Knights of the Old Republic: Soldier of the Republic
by NedeserThul
Summary: Zurth Barsad had just transferred to the Endar Spire, a Republic Warship, when the Sith attacked. Losing the ship, Zurth and Carth are forced to flee, seeking out a very special Jedi and trying to survive the enemy occupied Outer Rim world of Taris. With Imperials, swoop gangs, crime lords and unspeakable creatures, how will they survive the ordeal?
1. Chapter 1: The Endar Spire

It was the explosion that woke him up. Zurth Barsad had been tossing and turning on the rack in the quarters he shared with Trask when he jolted upright. His head pounded and he was sweating like he had just finished a Republic Army physical fitness test. With ragged breath, he staggered to the faucet and splashed water on his face and drank a few double mouthfuls of water.

Another explosion rocked the _Endar Spire_ and he stood bolt upright. "Oh right;" he growled, "explosions."

Quickly, he hurried to his trunk when the door opened. In the blink of an eye, Zurth had a blaster on the door, having pulled it quickly from his trunk. A Republic soldier stood there - Corporal Trask Ulgo. "Zurth," he snapped, looking sweaty and anxious, "the hell are you doing? Get up and get your ass in gear! The damned Sith are boarding right now! They've been shredding our exterior defenses and now they're after the crew. Hurry up."

Zurth's head was still swimming but he followed his orders from Trask. Quickly, he jumped into an armor mesh combat suit, grabbed his blaster pistol and vibroblade, holstering them on his hips before grabbing a blaster rifle. "I'm ready. Let's go, Corporal, where are we headed?"

"We need to get to Bastilla and get her off the ship. She's extremely important."

Zurth frowned. "Who is she?"

"She's a Jedi, one of several on the _Endar Spire_ and the more of them that we can get off this ship in escape pods the better. Apparently she has some kind of special force power or something that's supposed to help us turn the tied of this war."

Zurth nodded and turned his rifle from safe to fire. He was just in time too, since they opened the blast doors and found themselves in a firefight. A half a squad of Republic Marines were firing on the boarding Sith shock troopers and being cut to pieces. "For the Republic!" yelled Trask enthusiastically.

Zurth couldn't help but grin at his squad leader's enthusiasm and open fire. With crisp, precise marksmanship, he dropped one after the other. Even so, the boarding craft had a large number of Sith troops and the other Republic marines fell before the last Imperial did. As a last attempt to kill the defenders, whoever was piloting the boarding shuttled ripped free, causing everything to start being sucked into space. "Kriff!" yelled Trask as he tried to grip one of the wall panels.

It was just on the other side of another blaster door and Zurth aimed with his blaster as he held on to some loose wire. Taking a deep breath, he squeezed the trigger. His shot was true and the door shut. "That was one hell of a shot, Zurth. Come on. Let's get going."

The soldiers ran as fast as they could, heading for the bridge where Zurth hoped that this Bastilla Shan character was. Several times, they came across more firefights and even managed to gather a small group of marines, eight others all told. Just before they bridge, they heard a strange sound. It was the sound of crackling, humming and hissing. "What's that sound?" asked Zurth. One of the other Marines hissed. "Lightsabers; I'm betting one of ours is fighting one of theirs. Jedi I mean; come on let's go."

They opened the door and a slender young woman fought a larger, armored man. She seemed to be fencing, not challenging his blows but swatting them aside. The man was attempting to overpower her but couldn't seem to make a hit. In a great show of swordsmanship, she redirected his blade and then slashed, cutting across his armored chest, killing him. "Jedi!" called Trask.

She turned and smiled with relief but just as she was about to jog over, their was an explosion. Zurth hurried over and checked her pulse. "She's dead;" he growled.

Trask sighed. "Damn! We could have used her help!"

The marines agreed sourly and they continued on to the bridge. "Hey," said one of them, "it's probably going to be pretty close in there, guys. Use vibroblades and swords."

Many marines pulled vibroblades and vibroswords and prepared to storm the bridge. Zurth had a modified vibroblade himself and when the door opened, he and Trask led the charge. The Sith shock troopers tried to counter charge but they were not ready. Zurth slammed his blade into a chink beneath the arm of a Sith trooper's body army before pushing him into another Sith trooper, one with a double bladed vibroblade and used his lack of balance to cut across the weak part of his throat.

The fighting was fast and harsh but it wasn't long before they took the bridge. Again, Zurth and Trask were the only one's left. They picked up vibro swords and buckled them on, know that the longer weapons would serve them better in the near future. "She isn't here. Lieutenant Onasi must have gotten her to the escape pods. Come on. Let's keep moving."

They hurried from the bridge. Suddenly, Zurth felt cold dread and they both looked towards a door on the other side of the corridor. Trask looked towards the door leading to the escape pods but then hurried over to the one ahead of them and opened it. Inside the room on the other side was a pale, bald man in black armor and wielding a double bladed Sith Lightsaber. "Damn!" cursed Trask, "another Dark Jedi. Get to the escape pods and help Bastila."

"Corporal wait;" snapped Zurth, "you can't take him alone."

"I might just be able to slow him down. Go! That's an order."

Trask shoved him in the direction of the escape pods and ran towards the Dark Jedi, shutting the doors behind him. "Blast!" snapped Zurth.

Since there was nothing more to do, he hurried on towards the escape pods but he swore that he would remember Trask Ulgo and his sacrifice.

Suddenly, his comms unit chimed. "This is Specialist Barsad."

"This is Carth Onasi. I'm tracking your movement via the life support systems. Bastila's escape pod is away and you and I are the last surviving members of the crew. I can't wait for you much longer. You have to get here fast!"

"I'll be there, Lieutenant;" said Zurth. "Just hold that pod for me."

He took off running, slinging his blaster rifle in exchange for his pistol. He'd be able to shoot faster while running with it. On several occasions, he blazed through pairs or small groups of Sith troopers, blasting them down as he ran by. At one point, he stopped just long enough to toss a frag grenade into the room he had to get through and duck behind the door. The explosion, followed by screams, was his signal to move.

After what seemed like a short eternity, he came to the second to last doorway. Somehow, he just knew that there were Sith in the next room. Taking a deep breath, he ran to a console and weighed his options. There was war droid in the corner but he didn't feel like taking to the time to repair it, electing instead to overload a power conduit. There was a loud popping and an explosion, some screams and then silence.

Cautiously, Zurth opened the door. The Sith soldiers on the other side had been cooked in their armor and he hustled passed them to the last door. It opened, and a man in a pilot's uniform with a noticeably out of regs growth of stubble on his face. "You've made it just in time and there's one active pod left. Come on! We'll figure everything out on the planet below!"

Zurth nodded and they climbed in. Just as Carth closed the door, they heard armored boots clumping into the bay. "Punch it!" hissed Zurth, and Carth did. They were away. The ride down didn't feel like anything at first. They were just falling through emptiness. "So;" said Zurth awkwardly, "do we know how many got out?"

"Not a clue;" said Carth. "Get ready, when we enter atmo, this ride is going to get rough quick, fast and in a hurry."

"Got it;" replied Zurth. He wasn't sure how long it was but it seemed as though he could feel them going through each layer of atmosphere. His teeth were rattling and suddenly, an alarm hissed. "Get ready!" said Carth, his words barely understandable. "We've got seconds before impact."

Zurth crossed his arms and tucked his head in. Even so, when the pod crashed and all the impact bags went off, everything still went black.

* * *

 **That's right, I'm doing the often done Knights of the Old Republic, minus all the side missions necessary for experience and sticking only to the main story. It's been requested a couple time now so I hope that everyone enjoys. Anyhow, read, review and request!**


	2. Chapter 2: Life on Taris

_The crack and sizzle of lightsabers was clearly audible as the Jedi battled their dark side equivalents. At their head, a young woman, probably early twenties, battled her opponent vigorously, seeking to lay him low. Light flashed from the battle outside in space as Sith cruisers sought to destroy the Republic fleet. With a final slash, the Jedi woman cut her opponent down and turned to face her true target._

* * *

Zurth jolted upright and gasped. Carth glanced over from the very simple meal her was preparing. "Finally awake, huh? It's about time. You've been sleeping for a couple days now. At first I thought your head bump might have been fatal but I think there might be something else going on with you. We should see a doctor next time we get the chance. How are you feeling?"

Zurth groaned and stood, heading to the faucet and dousing his face. "My head hurts a bit but other than that, I'm fine. So, what's the next move, Sir?"

Carth snorted. "Buddy, I'm just a pilot and a soldier. You're the special forces guy. I think I'll defer to you."

Zurth chuckled. "Alright. Have you been outside yet? What's our situation here?"

"I've only been down to the vendor to pick up food and drinkable water. We should probably take stock of the situation though. I basically had time to drag you in here. We don't have a ton of credits either so we may need to figure that out too."

Zurth nodded and straightened. "My stuff in there?" he asked, pointing to the footlocker at the foot of his bed. Carth looked hesitant. "Yeah but I'd leave the Republic combat armor in there. I picked up some regular clothes that I hope fit you. As far as weapons, carrying anything larger than a blaster pistol and vibroblade would probably be a bad idea."

"No kidding;" chuckled Zurth as he opened the foot locker and pulled out the clothes. As he dressed, he commented. "So we know that this Bastilla lady is somewhere on planet. Any idea where that might be?"

Carth snorted. "I only know that we landed in the same general area but the truth is, we crashed on a city that spans a planet. She could be anywhere at the moment. Unfortunately, we're just going to have to ask around."

Zurth nodded as he finished getting dressed. The clothes fit pretty well considering. Strapping on his blaster and vibroblade, he said, "Alright, after we eat, we're heading out and taking a look at our situation."

Carth nodded and they were quiet as he dished out whatever ground meat and crummy vegetable mixture he had concocted. "It is good to see you up instead of thrashing around in your sleep;" commented Carth. "You must have been having one hell of a nightmare. How much do you remember exactly?"

Zurth shrugged as he swallowed the food. "Slipping in and out of consciousness. Had some messed up dreams too about Jedi fighting each other. Figures. It's been a long war."

"No surprise, your head took a hell of a blow and you've been slipping in and out for three days. A couple times, I thought you were dead. I managed to drag you from the pod to these abandoned apartments. I'm not sure how many beings know about us - certainly a couple of vendors who have set up shop but not too many people I think."

"Well that's good, I guess;" muttered Zurth around a mouthful of food. "So, what's going on with the planet? I seem to remember it being held by the Sith."

"Yes, it is and now, they've declared martial law and seem determined to catch all the fugitives. I'm guessing their after Bastila. Apparently she's important."

"Jedi;" muttered Zurth as if it were a nasty word.

Carth chuckled and they finished their meal and tossed the disposable dishes. Turning very serious, Carth said, "Alright here's the really bad news: there is no way any Republic aid is getting through the blockade and that means-"

"We're on our own getting out of here;" sighed Zurth, rubbing his still aching head.

"Yup;" agreed Carth.

They headed out and Zurth said, "Okay so what is so damned special about this Jedi? Why is she so important and why are the Sith gunning after her so hard?"

"She has this weird gift called battle meditation. Apparently it's supposed to be able to influence entire armies, making them better and fight harder. I would call shavit on it if I hadn't seen some crazy stuff during the Mandalorian Wars."

Zurth nodded and was about to reply when they saw a Sith ahead with a pair of war droids, shaking down a pair of Duros. "Alright, you alien scum;" snapped the officer in charge, "this is a raid! Up against the walls."

One of them complained loudly, "There was a patrol down here yesterday and they found nothing! Why do you Sith keep bothering us?"

Without a word, the officer pulled his side arm and blasted him. Before the smoke even cleared, the officer was bellowing, "That's how we deal with smart mouthed alien scum. Now, the rest of you, up against the wall before I lose my temper again."

The officer turned and saw Carth and Zurth. His beady eyes widened and he said, "Those are Republic fugitives! Attack!"

Zurth drew his blaster and there were three reports - one from his and two from the pair of blasters that Carth had. The Sith was dead and his war droids were sparking on the 'crete.

The other Duros looked scared for just a moment before but then just looked depressed. "Damned Sith;" he muttered. "Thank you for stepping in. I just wish you could have saved my brother."

"Sorry about that;" said Zurth earnestly.

The Duros shrugged. "It's how things have been under Sith rule to be honest. Look, I'll move the bodies, you two just scram and we'll make this look like none of us were involved."

"We'd appreciate that;" said Carth but the Duros waved it aside. "It's the best for all of us at the moment. Take care, humans."

They nodded and headed for the lift that took them up to the sky-street level.

The planet outside looked gloomy and depressing. Sith troopers were paroling here and there but up here, Carth and Zurth weren't even noticed. Off on the very edge of the platform was the pod. "Wow;" muttered Zurth. "That was too close."

"No kidding;" said Carth. "I had no idea we nearly fell to the levels below. It really could be worse, couldn't it?"

Zurth nodded and they began their exploration.

* * *

The day was fairly productive. They found the upper levels vendors, the cantina, a droid repair shop and a doctor's office where Zurth was checked out. "You probably just had the nightmares because of the concussion. I'd be careful though. If you start having gaps in your memory, come on back here and I'll take a second look."

Zurth thanked him and they continued about. The most promising place thus far was the cantina. It was noisy and dark so staying unnoticed would be easy. It had pazaak tables and a pit fighting ring that caught the soldiers' attention. "If we need to make money, this may not be a bad idea;" murmured Zurth to Carth as they sat in the shadows.

Carth nodded. "At least the pazaak tables anyway. I'd be careful about the fighting ring."

"Don't sweat it;" said Zurth. "I could wear a mask. The thing about pazaak is, after you win too much, no one wants to come to you to lose their credits."

"Too true, I'm afraid;" said Carth dryly.

* * *

They began to fall into a routine. Zurth would win some pazaak and pick up a couple hundred credits here and there while Carth asked around about the escape pods. They quickly learned that six pods had landed in the area. A dozen or so arrests had been made but, this far, they were all Republic soldiers. Not even the hint of a rumor that it might be a Jedi was forthcoming. They bought more clothes and some other equipment, not to mention better food but for the most part, they had no idea what to do but keep asking questions. Eventually, on the fifth day after Zurth had regained consciousness, Carth learned something. "Apparently two of the pods - the only two that haven't been recovered are in the Undercity."

"The Undercity?" asked Zurth casually as he sipped his drink.

"Yup and when the guy told me this, he shuddered pretty violently. Apparently no one goes down there if they can help it. It's pretty bad, as the lowest levels of a planet-wide city tends to get."

Zurth chuckled. "Sounds like we need to get down there."

"Problem is that we need to get to the Lower City first. From what I understand, no turbo lifts go all the way down. To complicate things even more, we need authorization from the authorities to go down there. You know what that means?"

"We would need to be Sith;" muttered Zurth.

"Uh-huh."

"Lovely."

"Yup."

* * *

They kept a lookout for an opportunity and it came in a rather unexpected form. One day, during a visit to the cantina, a young woman came in. "Ale, please;" she said in a crisp accent.

Zurth looked at her and looked at Carth, arching an eyebrow. The bar tender sourly handed her the drink and ignored her, "Thank you;" studiously.

"Wow;" said Zurth. "That was pretty unfriendly."

"You haven't been on planet long, have you;" said the young woman. "We Sith soldiers aren't very popular around here."

Zurth shrugged. "Why? It's war and you're just doing your job. Can't imagine you want to be on this back-rocket planet any more than the locals want you here."

She looked at him with mild surprise. "Exactly! I'd even prefer a cruiser to this place! You know, I'm glad to meet someone who understands. I'm Sarna, by the way."

"Call me Zeek, Sarna. Pleasure to meet you. Why don't I buy you another drink and we can blow off a little steam?"

Sarna smiled. "I think I'd like that very much."

For three hours, they both talked and got to know each other. 'Zeek' complained and vented about how he was a bounty hunter delivering a bounty to the local boss Davik Kang but that the Sith's blockade was keeping him pinned on planet. Sarna bemoaned her assignment on this planet and the unfriendliness of the people and how boring it was. "Boring?" asked 'Zeek' with a cocked eyebrow; "with the pit fighting and pazaak and the illegal swoop racing and what not?"

Sarna rolled her eyes. "I don't play pazaak. The pit fighting isn't bad but the same fighters always win. As for the swoop racing, the Sith base has very restricted holo-net access and watching illegal sports is not permitted. Damned if I know why. There's a bloody brothel in the lower city that is technically illegal but the boys visit it all the time - can't get enough of the Twi'lek girls or something."

Zurth had to resist chuckling, electing instead to say, "A brothel, huh? I can't even get to the lower city. Need special papers or a uniform or something they tell me."

"We restrict access do to the gang violence. Without the proper authorization, no one goes down and no one comes up."

"Ah;" said Zurth. "Makes sense."

After a short pause, 'Zeek' sighed and said, "I just wish that I could get to my ship. There are a few things that would be useful."

"I wish I could help you, but I don't have the clearance for that. You would need a company level officer to escort you plus at least two troopers to make sure you weren't up to anything fishy. A request would have to be made and processed and that would take a couple weeks."

Zeek sighed again. "I know and I'd hate to get you in trouble."

Sarna smiled seductively. She had become more and more flirtatious throughout the conversation. "Well that's quite thoughtful but I'm a big girl."

Zurth looked at her brazenly. "Really? You don't look all that big."

The young woman exploded with giggles, blushing just a little. "That's kind of you to say. You, on the other hand look like quite the big boy. Do you work out?"

He chuckled and shrugged. "Little bit. You're not about to challenge me to an arm wrestling match or something, are you?"

"Oh no! That would be ridiculous. But listen, there's a party going on tomorrow night when we get off our shift at 1800. Most of us aren't even going to be changing before hand. We'll just change after we get there. It's going to be in the abandoned apartments at these coordinates. I would really love for you to be there. I fresh, handsome face would be welcome."

She casually brushed a hand up and down Zurth's thigh, causing him to shiver just slightly. "A party with a group of young, repressed Sith soldiers - sounds like a blast. Mind if I bring a friend along? My associate would probably murder me if I left him to fend for himself."

Sarna smiled and brushed his thigh again. "Is he as handsome as you?"

'Zeek' chuckled. "Not quite but he's still pretty good - at least as far as I can judge. I'd prefer to look at women and make determinations about their looks than those of men."

"Really?" she all but purred. Leaning back, she gave him a full view of her. "On a scale of one to a Corusca gem, what would you rate me."

"Corusca gem, hands down, no contest;" said Zurth, causing her to giggle and blush again.

"You, sir, are full of it, but I like you. I hope to see you at the party."

"Oh you will;" assured Zurth as he stood with her. With a smile of pleasure, Sarna surprised him by standing on her tip toes and giving him a kiss on the lips.

"See you tomorrow night, big boy;" and with a drunken stagger, she sashayed away.

After just a few moments, Carth came up and sat down beside Zurth. "So..." he said conversationally. "After three hours of flirting with a Sith trooper, you have anything interesting?"

Zurth nodded as he sipped his drink. "They're having a party tomorrow night and, from what she told me, they'll change out of their uniforms once they get there."

"Okay;" said Carth quietly, "so that's progress but how are we going to get the uniforms."

"You're a soldier, Carth. When you were a younger man who wasn't as smart, what did you and your buddies do on weekend liberty?"

Carth actually blushed at remembering some of his antics. "Okay, point taken. So, what, we go there, wait 'til they're all passed out drunk and then steal a couple uniforms?"

"That's exactly what we do;" replied Zurth. They both finished their drinks and, one at a time and with about four and a half minutes between them, they left the cantina and headed back to the apartment they were squatting in.

"Alright;" said Zurth as he shaved the stubble off his face. "This is our story, Carth. You and I are bounty hunters who got caught up in the blockade. When martial law was declared, the Sith refused to even let us back to our ship. We sent all proper requests to go there, under escort, about three days ago but, clearly, it hasn't gone through so now we're just stuck here, waiting for everything to blow over."

Carth nodded in understanding as he cleaned his blasters. After wiping his face, Zurth continued, "Also, I introduced myself as Zeek. You should probably pick out a name for yourself too."

"No need. Carth is a really common name in the Outer Rim. I grew up with seven other Carths and we all just went by our last name. If anyone asks, I'm Carth Ridell or something like that."

Hesitantly, Zurth said, "There is one last thing."

"Oh..."

"Apparently Sarna has a female friend who is going to be looking forward to meet you so just prepare yourself for being pawed over and flirted with and danced on and all that stuff."

Carth glared at him. "There is no way in hell that I'm going."

"Come on, Carth, I need you there. I'm not going to be able to carry two sets of Sith trooper armor on my own."

"Then contact me wen everyone is drunk;" muttered Carth in reply.

Zurth was adamant. "Look I no that this is going to be rough. Believe me, going to a party with a bunch of Sith soldiers, most of whom I doubt are out of their late teens, isn't high on my list of things to do before I die but we need to if we're going to rescue Bastila and get off planet. It's for the Republic."

Carth glared balefully at him before growling and saying, "You know what? Sometimes, I really, REALLY hate you."

Zurth smiled and said, "But you'll go."

"Blast is, yes I'll go."

Zurth sighed with relief. "Thank you. The idea of being mauled by two female Sith soldiers scared the life out of me."

That got a laugh out of the other soldier.

* * *

They had decided to by some nicer, though rougher looking, clothes in order to reinforce the bounty hunter story. When they arrived at the party the next day, it was already in full swing. Zurth had been right when he assumed the Sith soldiers' age range. Most of them had to be barely out of recruit training. Along the wall were neatly stacked all their armor and blasters.

As soon as she saw him, Sarna hurried over to Zeek. Behind her was another female soldier - a much younger one who looked shy and demur. "You came! I so glad you made it;" said Sarna, a drink in her hand. "You have got to try this Tarisian ale. I'm telling you, it's to die for."

"Easy, Sarna. This stuff packs quite a punch. Drink too much, too fast and you'll be passed out before the suns completely down."

"Who cares;" countered Sarna jubilantly. "We aren't on duty tomorrow. Let's have some fun."

She thrust a can of the stuff into Zurth's hands and yanked him deeper into the room before starting to dance enthusiastically. Looking over at Carth, Zurth was satisfied to see that his fellow 'bounty hunter' was leaning against the wall, smiling and chatting with the other young Sith soldier. She seemed so very shy but was smiling and chuckling with him. Satisfied that his friend was looking the part, Zurth focused on his own partner.

The rest of the night slowly became hazy and unclear. Sarna continued to ply him with the strong Tarisian ale and, despite his attempts to limit his alcohol, Zurth found himself slipping into drunkenness pretty quickly. It was only a matter of time before he was totally blasted.

It was several hours later when he woke with a groan. Carth was standing over him, one bushy brow cocked and a smirk barely perceptible on his face. With a groan, Zurth managed to pull himself to his feet. It took him nearly thirty seconds to realize that he was stark naked. "What the hell?" he groaned, half hungover, half still drunk.

Carth just pointed at the bed next to where he had been lying. There, in all her naked feminine glory lay Sarna, snoring peacefully with a smile on her face. Zurth looked down at himself and groaned again. "I didn't."

"Oh yeah. You did;" said Carth, clearly fighting back laughter. "You did a job worthy of the best intelligence agent. Way to really commit to the part, 'Zeek'."

"Oh shut up. Where are my clothes?"

It took him a second but he finally located them and struggled into them. He was very glad to see that they were in the abandoned apartment adjacent to the one that the main party was in. Carefully yet quickly, they looked through the armor and picked out the suits that looked as though they would fit best. It was only a guess though, since they didn't have time to try it on. It was a struggle to avoid stepping on the passed out Sith soldiers, some of them contorted into the oddest positions. On the bed, another couple lay, covered with a blanket but, if the clothes that were scattered everywhere was any evidence, they were both naked as well.

After Carth and Zurth collected weapons that went with the uniforms, Assault guns, disruptor pistols and the dreaded Sith Tremor swords that Sith Trooper marines utilized, they packed it all into a foot locker and hauled it away.

* * *

With a groan, Zurth collapsed onto his bunk. His head pounded, his mouth tasted like something had died in it and his stomach was gurgling and lurching with every move. Carth cocked an eyebrow. "What are you doing? Get up! We need to get down to the lower city."

Zurth groaned and pulled the rough blanket over his head. "Are you kidding? We need to lie low for a couple days until the mystery of the disappearing Sith armor blows over and everyone moves on. They're going to be ID checking every patrol for at least a day or two, if not longer. In fact, the best thing we can do is see if we can find someone to rig us up some fake Sith ID cards."

Carth chuckled. "You know, for an idea you came up with while you're half drunk and half hung over, that wasn't bad."

"It means I get to lie here and recover from my really, REALLY stupid decisions."

Carth laughed and said, "You may want to shower and get that essence of Sith off of you."

"Later. Go away. I want to sleep."

* * *

When Zurth woke again later, his head and stomach felt better and there was a bottle of water and some electrolyte and pain killer tablets next to him. He took them and then ate some food. Carth was gone, probably still trying to secure fake IDs. Zurth took his friends advice and showered. The hot water felt amazing and as his head began to clear, the memories began to come back to him in flashes. There was dancing and lots of drinking. At one point, Sarna was almost literally pouring the ale down his throat but by then, he was so far gone, he didn't care. At one point, they were snogging so hard that the other drunken party goers yelled for them to go to the other room. They had done so and, in bleary flashes and hazy images, Zurth remembered only fragments of the sloppiest sex he had ever had. Sarna had enjoyed herself if his memory served him and that cause just a hint of masculine satisfaction but for the most part, he just leaned his head against the wall and groaned. He had never pulled anything like that before - at least not that he could remember.

After he had showered, he began making a proper meal. He was almost finished when Carth came back. "How are you feeling, Zeek?"

Zurth glared at him. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"What, getting so plastered drunk that you slept with a random female Sith soldier and I had to wake you from your stupor a hour later? Nope, never. We will both be retired with our wives, our grand kids and our great grand kids and I'll still tell the story about how you got in bed with the enemy in order to save the Republic. Of course, there are a few details I exaggerate or change, just so that the story is funnier and more embarrassing."

Zurth just ignored him as he dished out the food. After they had eaten, Carth cleared his throat and said, "Alright so I found this slicer who can get us fake Sith ID cards by tomorrow. We'll meet him in the cantina but the problem is going to be payment. He's charging a thousand for the two of them."

Zurth nodded. "I'll head down to the cantina and start playing pazaak as soon as we're done eating. Hopefully we can make it that way."

Carth nodded. "Alright, let's go. If not, I guess I can toss you into the pit fighting ring."

Zurth chuckled. "Nice. Come on, L.T.; let's go."


	3. Chapter 3: The Lower City

Carth and Zurth looked at each other and the latter sighed. "Alright, who do I talk to about these pit fights?"

Carth shrugged. "I can do it if you don't want to."

"Sir;" said Zurth carefully, "I'm sure you're a hell of a fighter but I'm special forces. If anyone should do it, it should be me. Now who should I talk to about this?"

Carth pointed through one of the doorways of the cantina. "Ajuur the Hutt organizes the fights through that door. They're going on at all times. Whenever someone wants a fight, they talk to Ajuur or his majordomo. Did you buy that mask?"

Zurth shook his head and stood up. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna spend some of this money we need to buy a combat suit and mask."

Suddenly, a Rodian strode up to Carth. "I have what you asked for. Do you have my money?"

Carth groaned. "We don't quite yet. See my large and scary friend here? He's-" but the Rodian cut him off.

"You cannot intimidate me!"

Zurth stepped in, his hands up placating. "You got us all wrong friend. I don't want to threaten you. To make up the money, I'm going to enter the pit."

That seemed to catch the Rodian forgers interest. "Are you any good?"

Zurth gave a grin. "Oh yeah, I'm very good."

Carth looked at him with just the barest hint of uncertainty but said nothing as the Rodian said, "If you win me money, these identicards are yours for free. I'll even give you a small advance to buy yourself some decent equipment. What's your name?"

"Zeek;" replied Zurth simply.

The Rodian fished out a credit stick. "That has the money you need to by a descent combat outfit."

"What's your name?" asked Zurth.

The Rodian chuckled and said, "Just call me Tinker. Now go on, buy yourself some armor and win me lots and lots of money."

Zurth grinned.

* * *

A half hour later found Zurth in the dueling ring wearing a Kaleesh war mask and a suit of Echanni light battle armor and wielding a force pike. Blunted melee weapons were the only weapons allowed since fighting to the death was terribly illegal. Across from him was a man with a lazy eye and a retractable quarter staff hung loosely in his hand. The announcer said some very suitable words, introducing Zurth as 'the Mysterious Stranger' and his opponent, 'Dead-eye Duncan'.

Zurth chuckled under his mask as he circled his opponent. This guy was someone anxious to make a name for himself but he was going about it all the wrong way. As if to show off or intimidate, he was spinning the quarter staff. Zurth didn't waste his energy, instead going straight in and batting the staff aside before simply smacking Duncan with the force pike, stunning him instantly.

It was too easy - an easy hundred credits when all was said and done but Carth had made another two hundred on bets and they were able to pay back Tinker for the armor. He had also made a couple hundred credits.

The next fight was a little more difficult - a guy missing three fingers on one hand. He still managed to use a force pike pretty well but, again, Zurth managed to stun him.

Each fight became more and more brutal until he one a half a dozen fights and the Hutt had given him a thousand credit bonus. Not only that but, rather than the betting odds getting better for him as he fought, they always seemed to stay the same so Carth and Tinker made a tidy some as well.

The Rodian was so ecstatic, he gave them the identicards and shook them vigorously by the hands before singing happily in his sing-song language and leaving the cantina. "We'll that's nice. We're about twelve thousand credits richer now. Game for one more?" asked Carth with a grin.

Zurth shook his head. "I'm good. I don't care about making a name for myself. We have the armor, we have the ID cards and we have a mission to do. Come on. I want to see the doctor. That last fight really beat me to hell."

"Zeek?"

Zurth froze and slowly spun. There, awestruck, stood Sarna. "Oh shavit;" he muttered under his breath. "Hey there;" he said out loud with a grin. "Sorry for just leaving yesterday at the party. Had to take care of a few things. Today your last day of leave?"

Sarna nodded and walked up to him with an alluring smile. "Yes it is and don't worry about him. I take it you had to prep for your fight?"

"Well I can't very well collect bounties stuck here and a man has to make a living."

Sarna leaned up and gave him a kiss, which he returned smoothly. "Well tonight's my last night of leave. Wanna get together in that abandoned apartment again? I had such a good time and I would love to finish off my liberty with a bang."

Zurth managed to smile and say, "I'd love to but that last fight beat the ever living hell outta me. I'm gonna go see the doc and go from there. Tell you what, I'll try to make it but I can't make any guarantees."

Sarna sighed dramatically and said, "I suppose serious injury is an acceptable excuse. Fine. But I hope that you heal up quickly, Zeek. I would enjoy spending more time with you."

She kissed him again and then walked out, her hips swaying in the hopes that he would be watching her go.

"Kriff the doctor;" said Zurth. "I'm fine! Let's get back, get the suits and get the hell down to the Lower city before I get mauled by a Sith trooper."

"Again;" chortled Carth.

Shaking his head, Zurth muttered, "You are enjoying this way too much."

"I don't deny that."

"I hate you."

"That's fine."

* * *

They returned to the apartment and got suited up. The armor was heavy and uncomfortable and only just fit them. The weapons were heavy and over-sized as well like all Sith weapons were. "Alright;" said Carth, his voice sounding automated, "let's get down to the lower levels. From there, we can work our way down to the Under City and find Bastila."

Zurth grunted. "I already hate this armor."

Carth chuckled as they headed stealthily out of the apartment. Their anxiety rocketed as they approached the turbo lift doors that would take them down to the Lower City since it was right outside the Sith military base. Two guards stood there and, as soon as they walked up, one of them said, "ID's;"

Without a word, they pulled their identicards. One of the troopers guarding the turbolift pulled a scanner and, for just a second, the disguised Republic soldiers were certain that they were done for. But the scanner beeped and the trooper said, "Go ahead. Be careful down there. The gangs are getting boulder. I'd get your business finished and get back up here."

Zurth nodded. "Thank you. We'll do that."

They climbed into the lift and the doors closed. Only after they had started downward did they both start to breathe again. Zurth looked at the weapon in his hands. It was clearly an assault gun of some kind with a stun setting, a semi-automatic setting, a full automatic setting and an overcharge setting. "These things are bulky but I bet they can lay down some nasty fire."

"Yup;" murmured Carth as he examined his. "Let me see, this one is supposed to be a sniper rifle of some kind. What good is it going to do me down there?"

Zurth shook his head. "No, it's an advanced marksman's weapon, not necessarily a sniper weapon. You can tell by how short the barrel is and the powercell's blast capacity. Not only that, watch this;" and he hit a switch. Part of the optic rolled to the side, revealing a sight for close range. Hitting the button again, the long range optic rolled back into place.

"I see. Very interesting. You use weapons like this in special forces?"

Zurth grinned behind his helmet. "We use what ever we want so long as we have it."

Just then, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. The two disguised soldiers stepped out - smack in the middle of a skirmish between two gangs. "Woah, woah," said Zurth, "stay back. Let's let this blow over."

One of the gangs was quickly and thoroughly beaten and were forced to retreat down the corridor. Those who were left cheered and blasted after them before noticing Zurth and Carth. "Uh-oh;" said the latter nervously.

"Sith!" yelled one, pointing. "Kill them!"

Zurth grinned and upped with his assault gun, laying down a withering barrage of heavy fire. Carth blasted away too, more precisely picking off targets and muttering, "I really wish I had my own blaster pistol."

It was a short battle and the gangsters ran - those that weren't blasted. "Okay so as soon as possible, we need to hide this armor or lock it up somewhere no one will be able to get to it."

"Great idea, except for one problem. We don't have any other clothes, genius."

Zurth looked at him. "Do I have to think of everything?"

Several more times, they came on groups of gang members. When they finally found a vendor, they bought more clothes and went into an abandoned apartment complex. There, they hid the armor under a section of collapsed ceiling before taking their weapons and heading back out. Carth left the blaster rifle and elected to take both blaster pistols instead. "Okay so what next?" he asked.

"Next;" said Zurth, "we find out how to get down to the Under City. That means hitting up the cantina again."

"Great;" muttered Carth sarcastically. "I'm sure this one will be just as upstanding as the other one."

Zurth snickered.

* * *

The Lower City cantina was a rundown, grimy, darker and much less civilized version of the Upper City Cantina. While well dressed citizens, off duty soldiers and even some of the nobility of the planet could be found in the Upper City, the only patrons here were grimy, low income facility workers, gang members and others of an even less savory nature. Within moments of entering, Carth and Zurth witnessed three gangsters shot down by a short little man. Zurth heared someone murmur, "Those idiots should have know better than to mess with Calo Nord."

Carth looked at Zurth and they both nodded. First rule of the lower city - avoid Calo Nord. At another point, a short, weaselly looking man collected payments from several groups of gang members back up by a tall, burly man with gray hair, scars up and down his bare arms and a really big blaster rifle. Zurth leaned across the counter and asked, "So who's the really big guy over there?"

"That's Canderous Ordo. Be careful around him. He's one of Davik Kang's most brutal henchmen and he's a Mandalorian to boot."

The two soldiers looked at each other, scowling. Neither of them held many affections for Mandalorians.

As they asked around, they learned that there were two gangs in this part of Taris - the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulcars. They were constantly fighting each other and Davik Kang, the local Exchange Boss, didn't care so long as they both payed their 'taxes' and didn't get too many people killed. Dead people couldn't pay the crime lord. Both Canderous Ordo and Calo Nord worked for Kang and if anyone had any ability to get off the planet and through the blockade, it was Davik Kang.

One area of the Cantina was a brothel, confirming Sarna's words to Zurth two days before. Both Republic soldiers scowled. They hated slavery but what made it really frustrating is that there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it. Two soldiers would never be able to end it. "Maybe Bastila will help us when we find her;" muttered Carth.

Zurth shook his head. "Even with a Jedi, something supported by the local government won't be shut down by three people."

They both sat sullenly then for several long minutes before being roused from their gloomy thoughts by a commotion. Over to their left was a blue skinned Twi'lek girl who couldn't be older than thirteen or fourteen was standing there just smirking at three burly Black Vulkar thugs. "Uh-oh..." said Carth and they both eased themselves to their feet, ready to step in. It was proved unnecessary when a Wookiee lumbered over and snarled at the three thugs. You could almost see the cloud of dust as they quickly evacuated the area. Zurth chuckled. "Nothing scarier than an irritated Wookiee."

It was beginning to get late so they stood and went to leave when they passed the Wookiee and his little Twi'lek friend. Zurth gave her a grin and a wink as they passed. "You got spunk, kid."

"Kid?" she said indignantly, "who're you callin' kid?"

"You;" chortled Zurth. "I don't mean anything by it, now. After all, I'm a pretty old guy compared to you."

She chuckled and Zurth thought he'd take a stab. "I don't suppose you'd have any ideas on how to get to the Under City, would you?"

"I might;" she said casually, "but why the hell would you want to go down there anyone?"

Carth clicked his tongue at the young woman's language but the others ignored him. "Can you keep a secret?"

She shrugged, "I'll probably forget as soon as you two old timers leave."

"We're both Republic soldiers from the battle above who managed to escape our ship and we're looking for a friend who's escape pod landed in the Under City."

Her eyes had gotten huge. "I take it back. I won't forget a word. You need special authorization from the Sith, documentation of specific orders from them that say they need you down there."

Carth groaned but Zurth went. "Hmmm... I see and I don't suppose a bright, pretty young woman like yourself would know how to get some less-than legitimate but still convincing forgeries of such orders?"

"What do I get outta this?" she asked.

Zurth grinned and pulled up a chair. "What's your name?"

"Mission Vao; and yours?"

"Zurth Barsad; so what do you need? I have some credits with your name on them if you want."

Mission studied him. "You'll owe me a favor. Go to the Hidden Bek's base and ask to see Gadon Thek. He's the leader but you better be respectful. His bodyguard doesn't take any nonsense. And he'll want something in return. He always does."

Zurth stood and proffered his hand. "Much obliged to you, Mission Vao. I'll remember that I owe you."

She smiled. "You'd better or I'll send the big Z after you here;" and she pointed to her Wookiee friend who just grumbled. Zurth chuckled. "Yeah I'm sure you are, big guy. Look, you two take care of each other. I'll see you around."

As the two soldiers turned to leave, Carth whispered, "You can understand Shyriiwook?"

"Yeah picked it up years ago. It's all about the harmonics, Carth. Anyhow, let's go and see what we have to do to get Gadon Thek's help."

"What we have to do;" agreed Carth with a wicked grin, "or maybe who you have to screw."

"Oh shut up!"


	4. Chapter 4: The Under City

Mission had been right about Gadon Thek's body guard. As soon as they walked in and approached the man sitting behind a desk, a tough looking Twi'lek woman stopped them and snapped, "Hold it right there! Who are you and what is your business with Gadon?"

Before Zurth and Carth had the opportunity to reply, the man behind the desk chuckled and stood. "Calm down, Zaerdra. No one is going to try anything here in the middle of our base. It would be a suicide mission."

"You're too trusting, Gadon. Brejik and his Vulkars want you dead. Anyone we don't know is a potential threat, and it's my job to make sure you're safe."

In a slightly more stern voice, the man said, "Do you want us to start attacking strangers on sight like the Vulkar's do, Zaerdra? I will never let it come to that. Now step aside and let them pass."

With a resigned sigh, she said, "As you wish."

It was clear to the two soldiers that Zaerdra cared deeply for Gadon and not just as his bodyguard. She glared at them and said, "You can speak to Gadon if you want but I've got my eye on you. You try anything and you'll be vaporized faster than you can say 'Vulkar spy'."

Zurth nodded and they approached. Gadon seemed just a little sheepish as he said, "You'll have to forgive Zaerdra. Ever since the Vulkars have started this war against us, she's been a little overzealous in our security duties. The problems with the Sith haven't helped matters. Zaerdra seems to forget that I can take care of myself. Now, how can I help you?"

Carth said, "I was wondering if you have any information about a couple of Republic Hammer-head cruiser escape pods landing in the Under City."

Gadon nodded. "I do. Within hours of the pods landing, the Vulkars stripped them. I wish we could have gotten there because, according to my spies, they found a Republic Officer named Bastila Shan in one. Now my gang and I, we don't believe in intergalactic slavery but the Vulkars aren't so picky and they took her prisoner."

"What?" snapped Zurth.

"They made her a slave?" said Carth. "What will happen to her?"

"Normally they would sell her to Davik Kang or to an off-world slaver for a nice profit. But a Republic officer is no ordinary catch."

Carth looked at Zurth. "They still think Bastila is only a Republic officer. That could be to our advantage. Maybe she'll find a way to escape the Vulkars herself."

Zurth looked dark and brooding. "Maybe but I doubt it."

"She's too valuable to live with the Vulkar scum at the base. Brejik's probably got your Republic friend hidden away until the big swoop race. You'll never find her."

Zurth gave a cold grin. "Watch me."

He was about to turn to leave when Gadon said, "Wait a second, friend. She's become a pawn in Brejik's game to take over the Lower City. He's offered her up as his share of the prize in the big annual swoop gang race. By putting up such a valuable prize, Brejik hopes to gain the favor of some of the smaller gangs. If he wins, he'll have the numbers to destroy me and my followers."

"So," growled Carth, "how do we go about rescuing Bastila then? We can't take on entire gangs."

Gadon stroked his clean shaven chin. "The only hope you have is if we win the race."

They were both quiet. "And," asked Zurth, "how can you help us with is?"

To Carth's surprise, Gadon smiled, "If I help you with this, I hope you'd be willing to help us. We both might have something to gain and most definitely have a whole lot to lose."

"Okay. What do you propose?" asked Zurth, crossing his arms.

"Well only the Lower City gangs can participate in the race. I could sponsor you as the rider for the Hidden Beks. If you win the race, you win your friend's freedom. But first, you have to do something for me. My mechanics have developed an accelerator for the swoop's engine. A swoop with that accelerator can beat any other swoop out there. But the Vulkars stole the accelerator from us. I need you to break into their base and steal it back."

Zurth and Carth looked at each other. Carth opened his mouth to object but Zurth cut him off. "What would the best way to do that be?"

Carth's mouth fell open wide but he didn't object. Gadon continued. "The front door isn't an option. It's locked tight. But I know someone who knows a back way. Her name is Mission Vao."

All three of them gave a startled objection but Zaerdra got her words out. "Gadon, you can't be serious! She's just a kid! How is she supposed to help them with this?"

"She knows every step of the Lower City and can navigate the Under City sewers better than anyone else. If anyone can get them in there, she can."

"We met her;" chuckled Zurth. "Last we saw her, she was in the cantina."

"She's probably down in the Under City by now then. She and her Wookiee friend love going down there for a little excitement."

Carth sighed. "So we do have to go down there. Alright, how do we get passed the Sith guards? We have the uniforms but rumor has it that we would need special orders to do it."

Gadon sudden looked even more interested. "Really? Tell you what, stranger; I can get you some forged orders. The Sith often hire locals as guides and scouts when they make trips down there. If you give me the Sith armor and the fake identicards, I'll cut you the orders."

"So when we go back up?" asked Carth.

Gadon waved it aside. "Oh, don't worry. The papers will cover that too."

Zurth looked at Carth. "We'll need new weapons if you take those too?"

Gadon motioned over to one of the rooms. "One of my boys will be able to sell you them at a discount price. Only the best, too."

Again, the soldiers looked at each other and nodded. Carth proffered his hand. "You got a deal, Gadon."

Gadon smiled and shook it. "Glad to hear it. I suggest you hurry. The swoop race is approaching fast."

Zurth and Carth nodded and turned to leave. Carth gave a startled intake of breath. "You didn't know?" asked Zurth casually. All around them, the Beks had taken positions.

"No;" said Carth. "They must really be loyal to their leader."

Zurth chuckled.

* * *

It was quick work to get their stolen armor and return it to the Beks. Gadon made good on his word, giving them data cylinders that, when scanned, showed that Zurth and Carth had orders to be in the Under City as contracted scouts. All they had to do was enter their names to complete them. Again, Zurth used his pseudonym Zeek and Carth simply put his first name. Than done, they went to the arms room. Zurth bought a vibrosword and assault blaster rifle and Carth bought a pair of heavy blaster pistols and vibroblades. They also bought light but durable combat suits, light enough for speed but it would still stop shrapnel and stable blades.

When they were equipped, they headed towards the tunnel. Two Sith guards stood there and lifted their weapons. "Halt! Do you have orders?"

Zurth and Carth lifted their cylinders and slowly approached. The cylinders were inserted into a portable console. "Contractors;" said one of them. "You may pass. Careful down there."

They nodded and entered the turbolifts. The ride was long, almost a quarter hour. When they reached the bottom, they were aghast at what they saw. A colony had been built around the bottom of the lift. The people wore rags and ate old fashioned field rations that were stacked on pallets. Old men and woman and a few younger ones and even some children walked around. They were lean and dull eyed and pale since the sun never penetrated down to the Under City. "Oh my stars!" said Carth quietly. "This is terrible."

Zurth nodded. The people looked at them with sunken eyes but didn't bother approaching. As they made their way through the village, the people watched from next to fires and from the doorways of small, prefabricated shelters. They began to hurry through and eventually came to a gate. One of the people stood there with an ancient blaster weapon. "Contractors for the Sith?" she asked quietly.

"Yes;" said Zurth.

Wordlessly, she opened the gate and they exited. It was dark and they had to use night optics to see. The sounds around them were eerie, mostly because there weren't many. All they heard were the odd shriek of some strange creature. "I've heard rumors about this place;" murmured Carth, trying to break the silence. "Apparently there are terrible, infectious monsters that devour the flesh of other creatures. If they bite you, you stand a good chance of turning into one of them - if you aren't completely devoured."

Zurth nodded and his only response was to switch from safety to burst on his blaster rifle. Carth had his blasters out too. Suddenly, Zurth grabbed his arm and hissed. Carth looked where he was pointing and saw it. A strange, bowed creature was observing them from the shadows. It was most likely the size of a human but they couldn't tell for sure. Slowly, it moved towards them and they began to here it sniffling. It was hideous and didn't even seem to have visible eyes. "Don't. Kriffing. Move." hissed Zurth.

They stared at it for what seemed to be a long time. Suddenly, it threw its head back and shrieked. Carth coolly blasted it but they both knew that it was probably too late. "Let's go," said Zurth, "quickly and quietly."

It didn't matter. The patter of feet was heard - quite a few feet. They thundered around the corner and made straight for the soldiers. Quickly, both soldiers opened fire. The swarm wasn't too large, perhaps fifteen or sixteen but they were fast and they were terrifying. When the last one fell, Zurth turned to Carth and said, "We need to find Mission. I don't know how but we need to find her."

They continued forward at a jog, looking everywhere they could. The street they were on, one that had once been traveled extensively many centuries ago, was now overgrown with moss and ivy. There was little to no evidence of civilization even with the towering buildings that stretched upward and out of sight. There were many gnawed bones however and the place only grew more unsettling. Suddenly, a figured dashed towards them and Carth upped with his blasters. "Wait!" snapped Zurth, forcing them down.

The figure was small and not hunched and, as it ran up, the recognized Mission Vao. "Help!" she whispered. "Help me! No one else will help me! Even the Beks won't help me!"

Zurth caught her as she fell into his arms, almost sobbing. "Hey, hey! Take a deep breath, Mission!"

She did, managing to gain control of herself. Zurth smiled and wiped the tears away. "Good girl. Now tell me, what's wrong?"

"They took Zaalbar! Gamorean slavers took him into the sewer systems! We have to help him! Look;" and she tried to put a stern face on. "You owe me one, remember? I'm calling in that favor!"

Zurth smiled. "No you're not but we'll still help you, Mission. You just lead the way. Hey, need a blaster or anything?"

Mission was slack jawed. "You - you mean it? You'll help me just like that?"

"Of course;" said Carth, "we can't just leave people to slavers. We're soldiers of the Republic, this big fellow and I."

Mission sighed with relief and hugged Zurth again before stepping back quickly and clearing her throat. "Right; um... thanks. Come on. I'll show you the best way."

"Do you need a blaster or anything?" asked Zurth again.

Mission grinned and pulled a compact but still powerful holdout blaster and a wicked looking vibroblade. "Thanks but I think I'm covered. Come on. Let's go save my friend from those nasty pig creatures."

Zurth nodded. "Lead the way, Mission. We're right behind you all the way."


	5. Chapter 5: Gamorrean Sewers

Carth and Zurth followed Mission through the murky darkness of the Under City. All three of them used night optics to be able to see. Shrieks and howls were heard in the distance, bouncing and echoing off the sides of the monolithic buildings on all sides. The three lone beings ran into groups of them and were forced to fight their way through several times but they were never so hard pressed as to question whether they would survive. Eventually, how long it took, they weren't sure, Mission led them to a grated hatch and smacked the activation switch. Nothing happened. Cursing, using language that was not becoming a young Twi'lek woman of her age, she kicked it again. With a loud, rusty screech, the hatch opened. A ladder dropped into even deeper darkness. Mission mounted it and began to climb down. "Hey Carth, make sure you shut the hatch behind you. We don't need any rakghouls following us. It's pretty tight quarters down here."

Carth agreed completely. They had entered the sewer systems, the lowest possible levels of the planet city. As they walked, Mission murmured to them, "The Gamorean slavers use these sewer tunnels to move unmolested throughout the planet. They pop up, sell their slaves, and disappear back into the sewers. I know all of their check points, bases and hideouts in the area and I know how to get into the Black Vulkar base - have done it at least a dozen times to steal food and generally just cause them trouble."

"That's great!" murmured Zurth. "We need to sneak in there and steal something as soon as we're done with rescuing your friend."

Zurth saw Mission's teeth flash in the dark. "Soldier, you help me and Big Z, we'll help you do whatever you want down here, especially if it hurts the Black Vulkars."

Zurth grinned and said, "You're a lifesaver, my friend. Come on. Let's go save Zaalbar."

They remained silent for the most part from then on. None of them could really tell how long it was in the darkness of the tunnel but they eventually began to hear the squealing, grunting, snorting communications of the Gamorrean slavers ahead of them. As they came to a bend in the tunnel, Mission whispered, "Stay here; I'll be right back after I scout ahead."

She tapped a switch on her belt and shimmered before disappearing. Carth whispered, "Where can I get my hands on a stealth field generator like that?"

Zurth chuckled. "Oh I'm sure that we could get our hands on one or more if we needed to but you and I tend to thump around with our big old feet. They would only hide us from sight."

Carth grunted in reply. Suddenly, there was a loud, pained squeal and a dull thud. Momemnts later, Mission appeared. "I took care of him. Let's go."

They advanced and saw the crumpled and clearly dead body of a Gamorean. Blood was flowing from a cut in its throat. Carth tried to hide the fact that he was horrified that this young girl had just killed another being but he had seen much, much worse during the Mandalorian War and decided to keep his comments to himself. Zurth looked more sad than anything. "You must have had one hell of a sad life, Mission;" he murmured quietly.

Mission shrugged and said, "Eh, it hasn't been so bad. I'll tell you about it when we're done with all this - that is, if you really care to hear it."

Zurth chuckled and said, "When this is all over, we'll see."

They fell silent again and the sounds of the Gamorreans were all around them now, echoing off the walls of the sewer tunnel. They came to a cross roads in the tunnel and all hell broke loose. A Gamorrean, a big, fat, thickly built fellow, spotted them and gave a loud war cry before rushing them with a vibro ax. They came from all directions them, in ones or twos and in small groups. It seemed that they preferred the use of vibro weapons to blaster weapons and the soldiers and the Twi'lek girl were able to cut down most of them before they even got close. After a dozen had been killed, the others seemed to become more cautious. Keeping his blaster rifle at the readied, Zurth asked, "Do you know where they are holding your friend, Mission?"

Mission switched out the power pack for her holdout blaster as she replied, "Yeah; I've escaped from these piggies before. The nearest holding section actually isn't far. They managed to install ray shields in one of the junctions to make holding cells. Not far from there, they turned a small sewer flow control room into a security and surveillance center. It's actually pretty impressive - well, that is for Gamorreans, it's pretty impressive. It's simple enough for a bright young thing like me."

Zurth chuckled and gave her back a light, admiring slap and replied, "I'll bet it is. Lead the way and we'll get him out. Is there anything that belongs to him that we need to grab?"

Mission just shrugged. "One of the other cells will probably have his bowcaster, ryyk blade and bandoleer in them. If I remember right, they tend to use unoccupied ones as storage for prisoners' belongings. It shouldn't be too hard getting them."

Zurth nodded and Carth looked ahead. "It's all clear for now;" he said. "we should hurry. I don't like the din."

He was right. There was a squealing and a snorting all over the place. But Zurth frowned. "I don't think that has anything to do with us."

"What else could it be?" asked Carth.

As if to answer his question, a loud shriek ripped through the tunnels, drowning out the sound of the Gamorrean speak. Mission looked startled. "They got in somehow! We need to be quick!"

They jogged on and came to a series of blast doors. Mission looked relieved. She counted allowed as they passed the doors. "One, two, three - ahah!"

She gave the door control a hard smack and the door grated open. Inside was a series of monitors and control consoles. They were horribly primitive and simple but the two Republic soldiers and the young Twi'lek girl sure weren't complaining. With a grim smile, she poked at the control panel and, as they watched a dingy monitor, they witness an intersection in the tunnel, blocked off by ray shields, suddenly become open and clear. "Alright," said Mission with a grin, "let's go. Through the door, down the hall to the right and we'll be there!"

They hurried after her and found that she was right. In one of the cells was a large, yet still young Wookiee. "Big Z! Are you alright?" asked Mission as she ran up and hugged him.

The Wookiee gave a growl and a series of rough, low barking noises. Zurth chuckled and said, "Got all you gear, Zaalbar? Ready to get out of this pig sty?"

Zaalbar nodded eagerly and lifted Mission up onto one of his broad shoulders. She was grinning as she pointed towards the exit. "That way, boys. Hey, where'd your serious friend go, Zurth?"

"Over here;" called Carth from another cell. They followed his voice and found him rummaging through a number of crates, cargo boxes and cylinders. He tossed a satchel to Zurth and said, "Fill her up, Zeek. There are mines of various kinds, power packs for blasters and even some field rations that look good."

Zaalbar set Mission down and the four of them looted the Gamorrean's storage locker, finding grenades, blast charges, power packs, extra weapons and even some suits of armor that fit each of them fairly well. It wasn't the highest quality, made by Czerka Corporation. They were well known for their less effective knockoffs and cheap, barely legal copies. Even so, it was better than their regular garments and would at least provide some protection against the rakghouls' teeth and claws.

"Alright;" murmured Zurth as soon they were all dressed. "Let's go. Hey Zaalbar, I know you don't really like armor and such but are you sure you don't want something?"

The Wookiee gave an emphatic negative grunt and they continued. Suddenly, the Wookiee growled a question and Mission said, "Oh, we're helping them break into the Vulkar base now, big guy."

The Wookiee stopped and barked at her in alarm.

"They need to steal something from them and-" but then she frowned. "Wait a sec; you guys never told me what you're stealing or why you're stealing it."

Zurth shrugged. "I suppose we didn't. We're stealing and engine component for Gadon Thek so that I can enter the swoop races and hopefully rescue a friend."

"Zurth!" snapped Carth, seeming a little alarmed that he would tell so much to a pair of vagabonds.

"Take it easy, Carth! I've a feeling these two don't love the Sith or the Vulkars any more than we do."

Mission nodded. "You're right; we don't care much for either of them. Well come on. Let's get your engine component and then get you back to the Bek's."

Zaalbar gave a grunt and Mission sighed. "Oh come on, Big Z! I promised to help them. Look, if you want to head out and back towards the lift to the Lower City, that's fine. I can guide them."

He almost seemed scared by that suggestion and shook his hairy head vigorously. "Alright then;" said Mission with finality. "Let's get going."

* * *

It took hours, how many, they weren't sure, to make it all the way through to where Mission said the entrance to the base was. They had to tussle their way through several groups of Gamorreans and even a number of rakghouls that had broken in somewhere in the sewer system but, finally, they made it to a large blast door. It was big enough that a speeder truck could drive through if they had one.

As they approached the door, Zurth frowned. "So I take it that leads to a turbo lift that goes back up to the Lower City and their base?"

Mission smiled. "Yup. That's right. They usually only have a couple guards and it's a cargo lift so I use a my stealth field generator to sneak on with a smaller group."

"And that works?" asked Carth, mildly surprised.

"Every time so far;" replied Mission with a smirk.

They opened the blast door after a couple hard whacks on the control console and stepped inside, only to freeze dead where they were at. Mission gulped and said with a slightly shaky voice. "Okay, this is all new."

There were piles of bones and such everywhere. The place smelled of decomposing flesh and at the other end of the room, waiting in front of the cargo lift doors, was a rancor. It was a female and probably not full grown but even so, it was big and most definitely a threat.

"So;" said Carth as they back their way into the corridor they had just exited. "Any ideas about how to get passed that monster?"

Zurth nodded. "I got a few. We mine the place thoroughly and blow the thing up."

"That would take a lot of mines, Zeek;" said Carth uncertainly.

The commando just grinned. "It would - unless we attacked some of these more powerful det. charges to them as well."

Zaalbar rumbled something and Mission nodded. "Big Z is right, you are crazy, Zurth. On a totally unrelated topic, why does Carth keep calling you Zeek?"

Carth grinned wickedly as Zurth groaned. "We can tell you later."

"Oh no;" chortled Carth, "you go rig your bombs and what not and I'll tell the story to our young friends here."

Zurth groaned and moved out into the room. Over by the stack of bones, he rigged his improvised explosive device. Four mines, all wired to highly volatile and moldable detomite charge. As an after thought, he also added a large permecrete charge. If the rest of the blast didn't kill the rancor, this would at least immobilize it. Permecrete was made to shatter stone and duracrete and the like with a large concussion. It would likely shatter the bones of the rancor when she stepped on it. With a sigh, he headed back to where his companions were laughing. Mission pointed at him and said, "That's hilarious! Way to commit to the job, sleeping with that Sith like that!"

"Wait a sec!" said Carth, blushing; "I never mentioned that he slept with her."

"Oh please;" snorted Mission. "I'm not a kid! I know when someone's hinting at sex during a story. I didn't grow up in a convent or some hokey religious order or anything like that. When you live on the streets, you tend to hear and learn about that stuff you know."

Carth just sighed. "Geez! Now I regret telling you!"

"Oh don't, by any means;" said Mission with a big grin. "That was the best laugh I've had in awhile. So what's next?"

Zurth said, "One of us can head back out there and lead it to the trap. Any volunteers?"

Before they could answer, he simply went back in. They anxiously waited for several minutes until the rancor roared and its heavy footfalls could be heard. "Oh this was a terrible idea;" groaned Carth.

Moments later, their was an explosion. Unwilling to wait anymore, they ran in, almost smacking into Zurth in the smoke and dust. "We're all clear. Let's head to the cargo lift."

They hurried passed the dead rancor and onto the lift.


	6. Chapter 6: Stealing from Thieves

The base was far more plush and luxurious than either of the Republic soldiers would have imagined for an insignificant swoop gang. There were several lounges, a bar and even a club-like area. There were also barracks areas and rec areas and a large armory and security center. It seemed as though the majority of the gang was out and about and Brejik was nowhere to be found.

Zurth and Carth looked like they could be just another couple of fresh faces and, at least at first, no one challenged them. That didn't last long though, since a trio of retrofitted and reprogrammed Republic war droids didn't seem to recognize them as members of the Vulkars. That immediately threw a hydro spanner into their plan of just waltzing around inconspicuously until they located and picked up the engine component.

Zaalbar grabbed one of the war droids before it was able to fire and slammed into the other two with a mighty roar. Zurth and Carth had their blasters in hand immediately. "Come on!" snapped Mission. "We have to go. There's a swoop garage and a maintenance shop down the corridor and to the left! Follow me."

They hurried after her as quickly and quietly as possible but it was rather pointless to rely on stealth at that point. The Vulkars opened fire on them on sight. Since there were only a few of them left in the area, it wasn't too intense but the four intruders knew that it was only a matter of time before the rest of the gang was alerted and returned.

"Here we are;" said Mission breathlessly and slapped the door control to the maintenance shop. It didn't budge. "Damn it!" she snapped and tried again before growling and popping the door control panel. Zurth and Carth looked at each other. "Any ideas on how we can open this door aside from hot-wiring it?"

Mission answered, "Yeah, if you feel like storming the security center and just opening all security and blast doors. If it wasn't manned before, I'd bet one of my lekku it is now."

Zurth turned to Zaalbar. "Hey big guy, you mind keeping an eye on the young lady while she works? Carth and I are going to check that security center."

The Wookiee growled and affirmative and hefted his bowcaster. Zurth and Carth quickly hurried off, weapons raised and ready to fire. They ran into a dozen or so more war droids before they finally made it back to the security center. It was quick work to take out the four Vulkar guards and neat work not to damage any of the equipment inside. "Wow," muttered Zurth. "These Vulkars have some really retro equipment here. This stuff was outdated law enforcement tech before the Mandalorian Wars."

"They're a swoop gang, Zeek, not intergalactic terrorists. I'm surprised their security is this good;" chuckled Carth.

Zurth grumbled as he neatly sliced the system and switched control of the maintenance bay door to the door control that Mission was undoubtedly still fiddling with. "Would you stop calling me that? I used it as an alias and if you keep using it, I'll have to come up with another one. Alright, control is back at the control panel. Let's go;"

Carth chuckled again. "Nope. To me, you're Zeek from now on."

"Yeesh;" grumbled Zurth. "Get in over your head in one infiltration mission and your buddy never lets you live it down."

Getting back to the maintenance entrance wasn't hard. Mission was still fiddling with wires and cursing when Zurth said, "You can put that back together now. I switched door control back over here so it should just open up."

Mission glared at him silently for a moment before hastily reassembling the panel and slapping the control pad. As Zurth had said, the door hissed open and standing there waiting for them a dozen well armed and armored gang members. One of them, a green skinned male Twi'lek, gave a razor-toothed grin and said, "Well, well, I'm quite impressed, off-worlders. You managed to survive the Under City, kill our little pet and slip through the base virtually unopposed until our war droids identified you as trespassers. My name is Kandon Ark and I think that the Black Vulkars could use someone with your skills."

Zurth just rolled his eyes, in no mood to discuss this. "That swoop part behind you, you know, the one stolen from the Hidden Beks, I'm here for it. Give it to me and I won't burn your green skin black."

The Twi'lek sneered. "I'd consider my offer more seriously, soldier. It's the best you are going to-"

Zurth blew him away, him and two of his bodyguards. Carth managed to peg a few more and Zaalbar waded into the rest, literally shredding them with his Ryyk blades.

"Wow..." said Zurth, taking a half a step back from the Wookiee. Zaalbar looked around as if trying to find more enemies and, finding that they were all dead, looked slightly disappointed. Mission waltzed in, patting the big guy's shoulder and saying, "Way to go, Big Z."

She went over to the engine component on the table and said, "So this is what all the fuss was about?"

Zurth nodded as he examined it. He knew a little bit about engine components for swoop bikes and the like but this one looked way too technical for him. Looking around, he found a bag of some kind and a pile of clean rags. Quickly rapping the engine part in rags, he placed it in the bag and slung it. "Alright so, plans for escape. One, two, three, go!"

They all looked at him blankly for several seconds before he sighed. "Okay so let's go out the front door."

Mission shrugged. "Okay but first we need to make sure that the defensive grid is down or a bunch of auto turrets will gun as down as soon as we walk out the front door."

"Great!" said Zurth. "Security center?"

"Front door. There's a small guard desk there. Come on. I'll show you."

With their weapons ready, they hurried through the facility until they reached the front door. There were two guards there but Mission slipped up to them with her stealth field generator and slit their throats. Carth seemed highly displeased with that for some reason but kept his mouth shut. Mission tapped away at what appeared to be a Sith field command console several years out of date. After a couple clicks and beeps, she turned and said, "Alright. Let's get outta here and back to the Beks."

They hurried out and found themselves in the Lower City again. As they rounded a corner, Zurth suddenly blanched and said, "In here, quick!"

They ducked into a corridor moments before a large group of Black Vulkars rounded the corner led by a tall man, swarthy skinned man with black hair and white, red and black combat armor. Zurth glanced at Mission and was slightly surprised to see her face set in a hard glare. "Brejik?"

She nodded stiffly, her hand gripping the hilt of her vibroblade. Once they had passed, the two soldiers, the Wookiee and the young Twi'lek hurried to a small apartment area. "Um... Mission?" asked Carth.

"There is a garage a level up that the Beks use. Hopefully one of them can lend us a swoop bike or two. From there, we can ride right in to the Hidden Bek's main stronghold."

Zurth grinned. "Have I mentioned yet that I'm starting to like having you around, Mission?"

Mission grinned back. "Nope, that was the first. It's good to have you around too, Old man. Big Z and I can handle ourselves but a little extra help sure makes things simpler and quicker."

"Old Man?" said Zurth huffily. "I'm not even very old."

Carth just snickered a couple times as they hurried along.

* * *

It turned out, to know one's surprise, that Mission was correct. The whole apartment complex seemed to be a base for the Beks and when they got to the garage, six beings lounged around. One of them, a tall Arkanian woman, stood with a grin. "Mission! Where have you been, girl? You promised to visit me! How's it going, Zaalbar?"

"And I'm visiting, Danna. These are our new friends Zurth and Carth."

Danna upraised them carefully before turning back to Mission and asking, "Newbies?"

"Friends of Gadon Thek's. They managed to steal back that magical engine component that the Vulkars stole awhile back."

Danna's eyes widened and she seemed to see them in a new light. "Really? Well if that's the case, you should probably lie low here at least for the night. Mission, you know where the beds are. Get some rest. I'll contact Gadon and we'll go from there."

It was at that point that Zurth realized. He was totally exhausted. A wave of fatigue flowed over him and he staggered, his adrenaline finally running out. Danna even had to catch him. "Easy, tough guy. Hey Zaalbar, help these two fine looking men to a rack so they can get some sleep. Then they should probably bathe too. No offense, handsome, but you smell like a sewer."

Mission giggled and said, "Can't imagine why that would be. Anyhow, right this way, guys."

* * *

After a wash and a few hours of sleep, Zurth woke up feeling like a million credits. Carth was feeling better too and when they met Mission and Zaalbar in the garage, Danna had good news. "We have three spare bikes here for you that you can use to get to the Beks with planetary positioning tracking on them. They're all set to lead you right back to the main HQ."

Zurth proffered his hand. "Thank you, Danna. You're a lifesaver. I wasn't sure how we'd go all the way back to the main base on foot."

Danna gave a coy smile. "You can thank me by winning the race - and maybe in another way afterwards. In the mean time, you should go. Be careful because the Vulkars are probably out in force."

The three bikes were lined up facing the huge garage doors. They were a different model than Zurth was used to but he was confident he could figure his out. After putting the engine part in the storage compartment, he climbed on. To his surprise, Mission jumped on and revved the engine while Zaalbar jumped on behind her. "You can drive?" asked Carth with wide eyes.

Mission just psshed. "Yeah. I've been doing this since I was twelve."

"How old are you now?" asked Carth as he mounted his own bike.

"Fifteen."

Zurth chuckled and activated the bike. "Mission," called Danna over the roar of the bike. "Go fast and don't let them catch you. If they do, you know what will happen."

Mission winked and said, "You worry like someone's grandmother. I've done this before, remember?"

Danna still looked worried but patted the Twi'lek's head. "I know but it never hurts to be reminded. Take care of her, Big Z."

The Wookiee growled in affirmative. Moments later, they were blazing through the lanes and alleys of the Lower City. It was mere moments before swoops pulled in behind them and blaster bolts began to blaze all around them. Zurth pulled a blaster pistol as he drove and took pot shots occasionally. The good news was that whenever he did, a swoop veered off course. The bad news was that there were quite a few of them. Zurth pulled close to Carth and handed him the engine part from his bag. "Get this back to Gadon. Hopefully I can pull some of these thugs away from you three."

Before Carth could protest, Zurth peeled off down a side street and gunned the engines. To his gratification, most of the Vulkar gang members tore off after him and left his friends with only two or three. Now all he had to do was lose the group. He could only go so fast without risking smashing into the side of a building or support column. Even so, it quickly became clear that Zurth was a naturally rider. He had perfect timing as he tore around turns, wove through columns and dove and rose from level to level of the Lower City. His pursuers either fell back or smashed into obstacles until the soldier found himself alone. With a grin, he checked his planetary positioning and found that he was only a half a dozen klicks from the Bek's main base. With a whoop, he spun around and made his way back.


	7. Chapter 7: The Race

When Zurth returned to the Hidden Beks' base, he was greeted by rousing cheers. Gadon Thek shook his hand and gripped his shoulder, saying something to him that was lost in the roar of those nearby. Carth looked relieved and Mission hugged him tightly, relieved that he was okay. Even Zaalbar looked pleased, barking out that he was relieved that Zurth was okay. When the roars of jubilation had died down, Gadon said, "They're installing the accelerator as we speak. The race in only a few days away. I suggest you get more comfortable with those things so that you don't have to worry about doing so during the race. The Vulkars and other gangs have some very good swoop pilots so you will need all the practice you can get."

Zurth nodded. "Well after something to eat, I'd be happy to jump right back out there."

"Not so fast, hot shot;" laughed Carth. "A meal, a shower and a little more information would probably be a good idea before you venture back out there."

"Yeah;" said Mission, "and you'll need someone who can lead you where the Vulkar's don't go, even under Brejik's orders."

Gadon smiled on the young Twi'lek. "I'm going to guess that you're volunteering, Mission."

"Who else knows the way better, Gadon? Yeah, sure. I'll go with him but only after food and a little more sleep. I'm still tired from only getting a few hours last night."

Suddenly, Zurth's own exhaustion became apparent and he sighed. "Not a bad idea, Mission. Alright, lets eat something and sleep. Danna's hospitality was great but I'm still tired and hungry."

Temporary quarters were set up for them and they slept for some time. When Carth shook him awake, Zurth muttered, "What time is it?"

"About zero-six hundred local time, not that you can tell. The sun never seems to get down here. Come on, let's get some breakfast and then we'll discuss a route for you to practice driving. They finished installing the engine part so you'll get to test that too."

The dining area was a communal one much like one on a military base. The Beks were in small groups here and there, eating and drinking and conversing casually. Zurth and Carth entered, many pairs, or trios as the case was, of eyes fixed on them, causing both the Republic soldiers to feel uncomfortable. Then Mission came up, smiling happily as she set her tray down and plopped down next to Zurth. "Hey, big guy;" she said, nudging him with her elbow jovially, "ready for a fun filled day of swoop riding?"

Zurth grinned. "Sure are, Mission. Where're you taking me?"

She winked cheekily. "You'll find out when we get there. 'Til then, you'll just have to stew in your curiosity."

Zurth sighed. "You are going to be a cruel piloting coach, aren't you."

Mission's only response was to wink and shovel food into her face. Zaalbar came up with an entire haunch of something or another, barely cooked and still bloody. He barked a morning greeting before digging in.

* * *

For the next several days, Zurth road through the Lower City traffic lanes, learning the intricacies of piloting the sturdy little craft. Mission, despite her youth, was a good pilot and an excellent teacher. However, Zurth soon left her in the dust and when he engaged the accelerator, they wound up having to just meet back at the Bek's home base later. All too soon, it was the night before the race. Zurth wasn't able to sleep very well but he still laid back and closed his eyes. Experience had taught him that, even if he couldn't relax his mind completely, his muscles and eyes would benefit. When morning came, a Duros came. "It's time, Human. Are you ready?"

Zurth stretched and gave a lopsided grin. "I'm as ready as I will ever be. Let's go."

The Bek's went to where the race was being held in force, all well armed. It was an unwritten rule among the swoop gangs of Taris that no one would cause trouble that would lead to a gang war and if there was a gang war, the trouble was left at the checkpoint. However, no one was confident that Brejik would keep that in mind. He had support of a lot of the weaker gangs of the city bought and paid for. They would do anything to earn a little extra money or favors from what they were sure would be the most powerful gang in the Lower City. Many a hostile eye was leveled at Gadon and the Hidden Beks but it seemed that they were still willing to honor the unwritten laws.

As Zurth and his core group of supporters moved the swoop to the starting line, Brejik and his closest followers strode up. "You have something that belongs to me, scumbag."

Zurth met his gaze levelly. "I'm fairly certain I don't, Thief. Now back off. I have a race to get ready for."

Brejik snarled, "You'd better learn some respect because soon, I'll rule the whole of the Lower City and have a criminal Empire to rival Davik Kang's. When that happens, there is no place in the Upper or Lower City that you can hide. You'll have to join the Exiles in the Under City if you want to survive."

"You're overconfident, Brejik;" said Zurth, no longer even bothering to look at the man. "That overconfidence is going to get you killed."

"We'll see;" snapped Brejik before he stormed away.

Mission hurried over. "Be careful out there. When it comes to the race, the only rules iare no weapons _on_ the swoops and no weapons _in_ the swoops. They still put armor plating on them and try to kill each other sometimes."

Zurth grinned. "It's fine, Mission. I'll leave their sorry butts in the dust."

Mission didn't look so certain. As they prepared to race, all the prizes were displayed in a cordoned off area - sets of valuable weapons and battles armor, cases of credits, highly illegal and expensive ship modifications and, at the center of it all, a cage with a young woman inside of it. She wore a corset that accentuated her hourglass figure and her breasts as well. Her pants were billowy and sheer, showing that she wore only a small garment to cover her modesty. On her feet were knee high leather boots. Her brown hair was back in a braid and she looked dazed as she sat cross-legged in the cage, leaning against the back of it.

Seeing her, Zurth's eyes widened. He hurried over to Carth and pointed her out. "Is that Bastila?"

Carth nodded, looking outraged and anxious about her predicament. "Woah!" said Zurth, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

Carth scowled. "Head out of the trash compactor, soldier! You need to focus on the race and remember that she's a Jedi. They don't do relationships. Have some military professionalism, will you!"

"Sure, sure;" said Zurth distractedly as he headed back to the swoop, still stealing looks at the beautiful young Jedi in the cage. Even though he knew that it was impossible for anything to happen, he couldn't take his eyes off her. "Hey, Handsome;" came a familiar voice.

Taring his eyes away from Bastila, he looked at the Arkanian woman, Danna. She was smiling excitedly. "Good luck out there. Do us proud and I'll see you at the celebration."

Zurth grinned at her. "Not if I see you first."

The other pilots were jumping into their swoops. Before Zurth had the opportunity, Danna grabbed his hand and kissed him quickly. "For luck;" she explained before stepping back.

Zurth felt his cheeks flush and he winked at her as he hopped into the pilot's seat of the vehicle. With sure movements, he powered the vehicle up and ran the system through a check. All systems showed green, including the advanced engine accelerator. He through on a swoop helmet and strapped on gloves that would keep his sweaty hands from slipping.

All the swoops were lined up and ready to go, their engines revving and roaring. The spectators sat in lounges that had view screens since the race track went through tunnels in the buildings, under walk ways and landing pads and even into some of the larger sewer ways. The only time they would see the swoops in person was as they blazed by in a blur.

Zurth's friends sat with Gadon Thek and Zaerdra and watched, sitting on the edge of their chairs as they did. Announcements were made in several different languages explaining the very loose rules and then the three count began. When it hit zero, a loud chime went off and the swoops blazed off. Watching via a series of view screens, the spectators cheered and egged on their chosen drivers.

Zurth was grinning broadly as he gunned the engine. Even without engaging the engine accelerator mod, he was able to outstrip the heavier swoops. The pilots smashed into each other. Some of them even had sharp edges on their swoops, probably claiming that they were 'decorative'. Whether it was the case or not, they smashed and slashed each other's vehicles to pieces. Zurth was in the front running group, easily avoiding the heavier and slower swoops behind him. Even so, there were a few that seemed to keep pace with him and even perhaps be a little bit faster. Faster, that is, without the accelerator. When it looked like they were coming to a straight away, he activated the mod and was pressed back into his seat as his swoop blazed forward, passed the other bikes. Carefully, he dialed back the accelerator as he came to another turn.

Mission watched through the screen intently as Zurth peeled away from the others. However, at every turn, they began to gain on him and the accelerator was a massive drain on his fuel. If he used it too liberally, his tank would be dry before he made it through the race. Zurth seemed to understand this, however because he used the accelerator sparingly. Zaalbar rumbled something in his peculiar language and Mission looked away from the screen just long enough to smile and say, "Thanks, Big Z. I did my best. Zurth's just a natural swoop pilot."

Zaalbar gave a barking laugh and they turned back to the screen.

Zurth was trying to monitor his fuel carefully but the other swoops were seeming to be gunning for him at the exclusion of one another. He had taken a couple nasty knocks that, while not doing enough to damage his swoop, were sure nasty enough to ever so slightly rattle him. He was still new at this. Even so, a couple deep breaths and he was able to shake it off and focus on his piloting. One of them tried to smash him into a building and Zurth was forced to slam the breaks and his malicious opponent slammed into the building, his swoop disintegrating. While the maneuver had relieved Zurth of one opponents, it had given several others a lead and he was too close to a turn to use the accelerator. When he made the turn, he cursed. The track was no straight away but a series of acute angles and zig-zags. Gritting his teeth, Zurth went as fast as he could without being too reckless. As he did, he passed three wrecks and realized that either the track or the racers had eliminated all but one of the competitors ahead of him.

The realization heartened Zurth and he blazed past the finish line for the first lap, a mere hundred meters behind the lead swoop. As the first straight away approached, Zurth's finger itched to hit the accelerated but he waited. Just as he came out of the turn to the straight away, he gunned it and blazed forward, catching up to his opponent and passing him just before having to cut the accelerator and round another bend in the track.

For the next lap and a half, they traded the lead and Zurth began to worry that he wouldn't have enough fuel for the final stretch. At first, he wondered why his opponent didn't try to smash him but then, after one good look, he realized that the thing was only a moment away from shaking apart from all the damage it had taken eliminating the other swoop racers. That gave Zurth and idea. When they were coming to the series of twists and turns, Zurth just tapped the accelerator, pushing himself just ahead of his opponent. Anticipating that the other racer, desperate to win, would take every risk to try to catch up or eliminate him.

As it turned out, Zurth was correct. As they were on the final stretch, pieces of his opponent's swoop were beginning to come off from where he had smashed into the course walls and smash into Zurth himself. It was a good thing too since Zurth's swoop was running completely on fumes. In a last ditch effort, the other swoop driver ran had on into Zurth Barsad from behind. It was futile, however, since all that served was to finish off the swoop and send Zurth over the line just as his speeder shut down, grinding to a halt on the duracrete only four meters over the line.

With a mighty cheer from the Beks and even a few of the other swoop gangs, a crowd mobbed him. The Beks lifted him onto their shoulders and cheered as they carried him towards the prizes. Suddenly, a blaster shot and a yell ended their revelries. There stood Brejik, scowling angrily and glaring at Zurth. "You cheated by using an illegal modification. The Black Vulkars refuse to give up their portion of the prize!"

Gadon slowly eased himself back and Zaerdra took up a position in front of him. Zurth sneered. "Oh, is that so? Illegal, you say? Then why the hells did you steal if from Gadon Thek?"

"I don't need your baseless accusations;" snarled Brejik. "We are taking our portion and leaving."

"No," said Zurth in a deadly quiet voice. "You're not."

They stared at one another as the other members of other gangs began to quickly disperse until only Zurth, his friends, Brejik and the Black Vulkar's remained. Gadon had been physically dragged away by Zaerdra despite his protests and a good chunk of the Beks had gone with them, wanting to be sure their leader was safe. "I stand upon the very crest of the wave of the future;" declared Brejik loftily. "Only those who wish to stay stagnant will defy me. That includes you, off-worlder. There is no need for us to be enemies. You can have the girl - if you join me and help us wipe out the Hidden Beks."

Zurth's jaw was set. There was no temptation. There was not even a hint of thought about how easy it would be to escape with Bastila after he had taken her as his 'prize'. In a motion faster than even the fastest of the Black Vulkar's, Zurth's blaster pistol was drawn and leveled. "Leave now and don't bother the Hidden Bek's again or die now."

"So be it;" growled the leader of the Beks. Immediate several things happened at once! Zurth and his friends opened fire but Brejik managed to knock the blaster aside before the soldier squeezed the trigger and the two of them grappled. From the cage, Bastila had stood and used the force to break out of the cage, summoning a double bladed vibro sword from the pile of prizes and falling upon her captors.

Mission was blasting away from cover, her face drawn in a snarl. Zaalbar was among the Vulkars, slashing at them and smashing them aside with his brutal strength. All the while, Zurth and Brejik rolled about on the ground, pounding away whenever they could.

Zurth had the best Echani martial arts training the Republic special forces could purchase but Brejik was a brawler from his earliest memories. He may not have known official techniques, but he had learned what worked and what didn't. With a nasty headbutt, he gained some distance and stood. Spitting blood, Zurth stood too and they circled, glaring at one another. With a roar, Brejik charged, only to be neatly thrown by Zurth, right into the side of the grounded racing swoop. The soldier followed up with several nasty punches to the chest and head but Brejik was tough. He took all the blows with snarls of pair and grabbed his assailant, trying to knee and elbow him into submission.

Bastila had cleaved through several Vulkars and used the force to blast several more. Within minutes, the only Vulkar left in the area was Brejik and he was still grappling with Zurth. The others refused to shoot for fear of risking their friend but Bastila strode over, waiting for an opening.

Once again, the two combatants gained some distance and Brejik snarled. "You won't beat me, off-worlder! I've been fighting since I was-" but a telekinetic blast sent him smashing into the wall. As he stood back to his feet, his breathing rattled terribly, the evidence of some broken ribs. In a crisp, accented voice, Bastila said almost haughtily, "Despite your keeping me prisoner for the purpose of selling me as a pleasure slave, I am offering you this one chance. Leave now and lick your wounds."

Brejik glared before spitting, "How did you get out? I had you in a neural restraint band."

She looked at him distastefully, "You underestimate the power of the Jedi, Brejik. Now go."

He tried to go for a blaster pistol and Bastila threw her weapon. It cut the gang leader down before flying back to the Jedi's hands. Zurth considered her for a moment before spitting a mouth full of blood to the side. The Jedi pulled a face and said, "It appears I broke out just in time to save you."

"Wha- WHAT?" Zurth all but shouted, nearly spraying blood all over. "You did not save me, Sweetheart! I saved you!"

"Specialist Barsad!" snapped Carth.

Mission and Zaalbar watched with interest as the soldier and the Jedi glared at one another. "I had everything perfectly under control."

"Oh sure you did, lady;" chuckled Zurth as he carefully probed at his teeth to make sure they were all in tact, which they were. "I could tell by the fact that your eyes were rolled in the back of your head and your mouth was hanging open. Kriff sake, you were practically drooling in there."

Bastila's mouth fell open and she stomped her foot. "I was not drooling! I was aware of everything that was going on, you.. you..."

Zurth waited with one raised, bushy brow. "Yes?" he said after a moment.

"GAHHH!" said the Jedi, turning away and all but stomping off. Carth glared at Zurth but Mission and Zaalbar were laughing, leaning against one another. "We are going to have to work on your deference for authority, Specialist."

"Yeah, yeah;" said Zurth before spitting another mouth full of blood.

"Come along, Soldiers;" called Bastila testily.

"Lady, do you even know where we're going?" asked Zurth.

"Of course;" she snapped. "We need to get to the Upper City."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple;" said Carth, still glaring at Zurth who was smirking. "We need to get back to the Beks and see if they can give us a way to get to the surface. without the Sith detecting us. They have control of this planet."

That stopped her up short and she said cautiously. "I see. Well then, lead on, Lieutenant Onasi. I'll follow your lead for now."

Zurth chuckled and then spat out another mouth full of blood as Bastila fell in between him and Carth. It took all of Zurth's prodigious self control to not look down at the young Jedi's assets. With a groan, he thought to himself, _Oh this is really going to be a pain in my-_

"Is there a problem, Specialist?" asked Bastila haughtily.

"No, nothing at all;" he all but ground out. "While you were in your cage taking a nap, I was winning the swoop race that secured your freedom - or would have if Brejik hadn't double crossed us and you hadn't busted out, not to mention the fact that I had to fight without the advantage of your hokey powers. You wouldn't understand."

To his surprise, she considered him for a moment before saying, "When we get the chance, you should let me take a look at those. I can probably help you heal them more quickly than if you only used kolto."

Zurth tried to maintain a glare but even he had to soften his own features and mutter, "That would be great if you could, thanks, Master Jedi."

Carth glanced behind him and gave a quiet sigh of relief. Perhaps Zurth and Bastila would at least be able to be civil after all.


	8. Chapter 8: Celebration

Bastila stood glaring haughtily, her arms crossed over her chest. Zurth glared at her, a bundle of clothes in his arms. "I'm sorry, Jedi but could you please run that by me again? Because it certainly didn't sound like you said 'why thank you for getting me clothes so that I don't look like a Hutt's favorite dancer anymore.'"

"I said," she replied calmly, "I am not wearing those. They make me look like a swoopie wanna-be."

Zurth gritted his teeth. "We are currently the guests of a swoop gang, _Princess._ You aren't going to get much better. If you'd like, you could just go like that. In the mean time, I'll leave these here for you."

"Do _NOT_ call me a princess;" she all but shrieked at him as he walked out the door, nearly bowling Carth over.

The lieutenant glared at Zurth. "Are you even trying to show some level of respect or decorum, Zeek?"

"Yes;" growled Zurth. "I even got her clothes so she didn't look like a cantina dancer but apparently they aren't good enough for her."

"Well then get her different clothes."

Zurth's mouth dropped open. "What?"

Carth sighed. "Listen, I know that Jedi can be insufferable and self righteous and have a massive superiority complex but we need her full cooperation and help and getting on her good side is the best possible way to do that."

"I am not pandering to that spoiled brat, Carth!"

"Damn it, Zurth! If you'd just show a little respect, maybe you'd earn hers too. For force's sake, do you know what she thinks of you?"

"I couldn't care less what she thinks;" came the surly reply.

"Well if you did, maybe she wouldn't be such a pain. Look, I'll take care of the Jedi. They're waiting for you at the party so you'd better make an appearance. This is all thanks to you after all."

Zurth nodded as Carth brushed passed and went into the quarters provided for Bastila. The commando thought about what Carth had said. With a sigh, he hustled completely out of the base and ran towards one of the kiosks. They tended to sell cheap knock offs of clothes or scavenged or stolen clothes. All he had to know was that they were clean. Quickly, he gathered a pair of black trousers that looked about her size and a pair of boots. With that, he grabbed a red tunic and a black shirt to go under it. When he realized that she probably didn't have any sort of undergarments, Zurth cursed and looked at the Ithorian selling the clothes. "I don't suppose you have unused undergarments for a humanoid female, do you?"

His Ithorian was spotty at best but through the honks of the numerous throats of the alien, he gathered that they were on a rack in the back. When he found them, he groaned again and studied the sizes and the like. As part of his training, he had learned to quickly analyze the size of things such as machine parts, weapons and the like and hoped that that would translate to the size of women's various parts. He quickly grabbed what he needed, plus a few extra of each and then hurried to the store owner. The Ithorian studied him and pulled out several more items and honked in his strange voice. After he repeated it several times, Zurth gathered that the being was gifting him more clothes for his spouse. It was almost reflexes for Zurth to deny it hastily but he bit it back and instead said, "Thank you. You are very kind."

With all the clothing gathered into a bag, he hurried back to the base and to Bastila's quarters. Zurth had to stop himself from just bursting in. Taking a deep breath, he gave three sturdy knocks. In a moment, the door hissed open and there stood Carth, looking like he was stressed as could be. "Can I help you, Specialist?" he asked, his voice warning Zurth to behave himself.

Zurth said, "Yes sir. I got a collection of clothes from a vendor down the street for Jedi Shan. I hope that they are satisfactory."

Carth nodded and stood to the side. Bastila still wore her prisoner outfit and gave Zurth a stern, if weary look. "Hopefully these will be acceptable."

She stood and accepted the bag wordlessly. Immediately, not wanting to here her opinion of any of his purchases, Zurth turned to leave. "Specialist Barsad;"

Zurth flinched but turned, "Yes, Jedi?"

"These will do nicely. Thank you for purchasing them for me. I will try to repay you;" said the young Jedi, a small smile on her face.

Zurth smiled and inclined his head. "Don't worry about it. I earned the money either in the swoop races, Pazaak or in the pit fights anyway so its not exactly honestly earned."

With that, he bowed and left the room, heading to the main chamber where there was music and many of the Hidden Beks' gang members. As soon as he entered, the crowed cheered. Many ran up and slapped his back or hugged him. Zurth was grinning and shook hands as they were proffered. Danna strode up and handed him a glass of something that smelled very strong. Suddenly, the music quieted and everyone went silent as Gadon strode up to him, a glass in the old man's hands as well. "Hidden Beks, raise your glasses to our swoop race champion, Zurth Barsad."

Another cheer went up. Zurth's face was burning. He hated being the center of attention. None the less, he bore it as another round of cheering and backslapping began. The music cranked up and they began to dance. Mission and Zaalbar were there, smiling at their friend. The perky young Twi'lek danced with him energetically until Danna cut in.

The Arkanian woman pressed herself against him and swayed to the music, her eyes hooded and her smile very promising. Carth came in and her was cheered almost as energetically as Zurth. A drink was handed to him too and he was shoved onto the dance floor. Shortly after that, Bastila strode in. Zurth was grabbing some food and resting his feet from dancing. He nearly choked on a piece of deep-fried meat of some kind. She looked beautiful in a simple way and Zurth caught himself staring at her. "You might want to give her this;" said Gadon who had slipped up beside him.

Zurth turned and saw that the old man had a long cylinder in his hand. The soldier recognized it immediately - a Jedi's lightsaber. "We found it in the rubble near the pod after the Vulkars had stripped it clean of everything else. Either they didn't realize what it was or it had gotten out of the wreck. In any case, it belongs to her and she's going to need it in the future."

"Thank you, Gadon;" said Zurth gravely, taking the weapon and shaking the elderly gentlemen's name.

He made his way through the crowd and opened his mouth but the Jedi cut him off. "No, soldier, I will not dance with you."

Zurth curbed his annoyance and replied simply, "I wasn't going to ask that. I was giving you this."

Bastila's mouth dropped open, seeing the familiar weapon in his hand. "If you've had it this whole time, why didn't you give it to me before?" she snapped as she took it and fastened it to her belt.

Still keeping his cool, "I just found out that Gadon found it. He just gave it to me not two minutes ago."

"I see;" said Bastila simply.

Zurth nodded and turned back towards the dance floor before suddenly looking back at her. "Why did you just assume that I wanted to dance with you?"

Bastila cleared her throat. "I am not completely ignorant to the fact that others find me attractive. The number of drunken soldiers and starship crewers who have offered to buy me a drink or asked me to dance is somewhere in the dozens. I assumed that, given the drink in your hand, you were going to ask the same thing."

Zurth couldn't help but smirk and say, "Don't you have an opinion of yourself? Well you don't need to worry about that when it comes to me. Even drunk, I do have some decorum."

Carth, who had been listening just a few feet away, burst into loud laughter hearing that. Zurth, noticing him standing there for the first time, glared at him. Bastila gave a small smile and said, "Is that so, soldier? It would seem that Lieutenant Onasi thinks otherwise. Tell me, Lieutenant, is there a story there?"

Carth gave Zurth a meaningful look. "Yes, Jedi, there is. But I think I'm going to save it for insurance to ensure that Specialist Barsad behaves. How does that sound, _Zeek_?"

Zurth glared before downing his drink and saying, "You know what? Go ahead and tell her, Carth. I don't care. If it hadn't happened that way, we wouldn't have been able to get the necessaries to come down here and rescue Bastila so you go ahead and tell her."

Bastila's eyes hardened. "You didn't rescue me, soldier. I had everything under control and, if you recall, I freed myself and saved you."

Zurth rolled his eyes. "Whatever helps you get over your embarrassment from being captured and losing your lightsaber, Jedi. Anyhow, I'm going to go ahead and get back to celebrating. I think I earned it."

Bastila's fists were clenched and she all but screamed, "You insufferable, egotistical excuse for a soldier! I've served with dozens of your kind and none have ever managed to be so irritating."

"I have that effect on everyone I save - especially the proud one's who can't accept that they needed help;" said the smirking commando as he sank back into the throng. Immediately, he was snatched by Danna, the white skinned, blue eyed Arkanian bombshell. It was clear to both Carth and Bastila that she was intoxicated and was gunning hard after Zurth. The Jedi crossed her arms and said, "Are all you soldiers the same, Lieutenant?"

Carth shook his head. "No, we're not, Jedi. Zurth isn't really like that either. He's just a little..." and he trailed off as Danna yanked Zurth into a passionate, sloppy kiss. "Okay so only when he's drunk apparently;" said Carth, slapping his palm to his forehead.

"Ah-huh..." said Bastila frostily.

* * *

Zurth was nowhere near as drunk as he had been at the Sith troopers' party in the upper city apartments. As Danna led him towards her quarters, she kissed him and pressed against him every several meters. "Come on, Big winner;" she purred, her voice slurred. "I think you earned yourself a good time."

Zurth didn't want to take advantage of her like that. As they made it to her quarters, he desperately hoped that she would pass out. To his shock, as soon as she reached the bed and backed onto it, she did just that. Danna collapsed backwards, her tunic opened revealing a naked torso beneath - a very attractive, very pleasing naked torso. Zurth groaned and moved to make sure she was still breathing. When he got a strong pulse and Danna started to snore, Zurth draped a blanket over her and left, shutting the door behind himself. With a stretch and a yawn, the soldier decided to head back to his quarters and sleep after taking some electrolyte pills and drink some water. From the shadows, a cool voice said. "That was quick. She must have been disappointed."

Zurth whirled to see Bastila standing there. "Where do you get off following me around anyway, lady?" snapped the soldier before striding passed her.

The Jedi's reply was clipped, "Get off? You really _do_ have a high opinion of yourself, soldier. I was following to make sure that you were safe. Carth and I need you alive and in one piece if we're going to get off this planet and I don't trust these Hidden Beks."

"You don't trust anyone, Princess;" growled Zurth as he came to his quarters and slapped the activation pad.

To his annoyance, she followed him in, rubbing her temples and saying, "Please don't call me that."

"Why?" asked Zurth as he went to the 'fresher and got some water. "You act like royalty and you look down on everyone around you just like some snooty Alderaani princess."

"I do not;" said Bastila but then thought about it. "Do I? I don't mean to."

"I'm sure you don't;" said Zurth as he pulled his shirt off and began to brush his teeth.

Bastila's mouth fell open as she watched him. "No I don't and do you think you could wait until I leave before you start disrobing?"

"You can leave whenever you want, Jedi. Or you can stand there all night but I should warn you, the pants are going next so I wouldn't if I were you."

"You're drunk;" asserted Bastila and Zurth laughed, shrugging his shoulders as he spat out the dental paste. He didn't bother responding as he threw water over his face and slathered it with shaving butter.

Bastila just glared at him as if she were trying to think of something else to say but Zurth beat her to it as he shaved. "Look, Jedi, I'm exhausted. I've had a very stressful time of it sense landing on this planet. I'm sure you can relate so, instead of staying up all night insulting and ragging on each other, why don't we go to bed and get some sleep and, tomorrow morning, you can give me your scathing opinion of me. Sound good?"

"But I need you to understand something, Soldier;" she said. "While you are with me, there will be no more drunken carousing and no random rendezvous. Am I clear?"

Zurth was removing his boots and she spoke and stood to his feet. "Sure you are;" he replied as he unbuckled his belt. "Are you leaving now or waiting for the show?"

"You wouldn't dare;" she gasped.

Zurth shrugged and unfastened his trousers, dropping them. "I'm drunk, remember, Princess? I might be embarrassed by it later but right now, I'm tired and need to go to sleep. Shut the door behind you on the way-"

The door hissing shut cut him off and she was gone. Zurth chuckled even as he realized that he was going to get it in the morning from Carth.

* * *

Zurth woke and was slightly surprised that he wasn't hung over. Quickly, he showered and went to breakfast. After filling a plate with food, he went and sat down, only to be joined moments later by Carth and Bastila, who were both glaring at him. "Morning;" he said as he cut into a sausage. "Sleep okay?"

"You are going to give me high blood pressure, Zurth. Are you trying to get slammed with a harassment charge?" snapped Carth.

Zurth sipped hot caf and said, "I didn't invite her in, she just came in. I was trying to go to bed. She didn't want to see anything, she should have left. Now, let's get to the important stuff - how do we get to the surface?"

"This isn't a joke, Zurth!" snapped Carth.

Finally, Zurth looked up and cocked an eyebrow. "Do I look like I'm joking, Lieutenant? We need a plan to get off this planet. Look, you can reprimand me after we get a plan worked out but I think we've spent enough time down here, don't you?"

Both Carth and Bastila looked at him sourly before the latter said, "Fine. Why don't we just go?"

"Because the Imperial's regulate who go down and come up from the Lower City and Under City. We have papers for myself and Zurth but not for you. Do you think Gadon will be willing to make some for her?"

Zurth nodded. "I'll ask real nicely."

"It's already done;" came a voice, surprising them all. Gadon and Zaerdra strode up with a packet. "We have documents for all three of you and you cane go whenever you want. Be careful up there though. The Sith are getting even more antsy or so our Upper City contacts say."

Zurth stood. "Thank you, Gadon. You've been a lifesaver."

They shook hands the the gang leader and his bodyguard departed. "Alright;" said Bastila, "we leave immediately. There's no time to waste."

"Can't we finish breakfast first?" asked Zurth as he took another bite.

Carth suddenly grinned and said, "What, nervous you'll run into your Sith girlfriend up top? What was her name again? Sara or Sasha?"

Zurth suppressed a groan and managed to look unconcerned. Carth smacked the table. "Got it! Sarna! Her name was Sarna! She is going to be sooo happy you're alive, _Zeek!_ "

Bastila grinned and said, "Okay, now I _have_ to hear the story."

Zurth just sipped his caf and ignored them as his face flushed dark red. Carth grinned wickedly and said, "So we had only been on Taris a few days, scoping out the situation, finding ways to earn money to live, that sort of thing. Anyway, one day, Zurth is at the bar drinking and this sexy woman sits next to him and Zurth here learns that she's a Sith trooper. Immediately, this smooth son-of-a-gunslinger starts working his charm and gets us invited to a party."

"Oh, a party with some barely-legal Sith!" said Bastila, containing her mirth. "Sounds like fun. Do continue, Carth."

"Well we get there, pretending to be bounty hunters who's been grounded because of the blockade and all that. Immediately, Sarna starts pouring drinks down this guy's throat, isn't that right, _Zeek?"_

Zurth just kept eating his food, ignoring Carth, his face only getting darker and darker. Carth continued, "So about an hour in, I look around and see Zeek and Sarna swapping saliva and the like when she grabs him, drags him out of the party and to an abandoned apartment next door. Want to take a stab at where I found him later?"

Bastila suddenly began to blush too. "He didn't."

"Oh yes he did!" laughed Carth. "He was naked next to a woman who was essentially a complete stranger and also naked as the day she was born."

Instead of laughing, Bastila gave Zurth a disgusted look. "Typical. Just typical of a Republic Special Forces Commando, taking advantage of every drunk girl who will throw herself at you."

Zurth was on his feet in a second. "Excuse me! I was trashed and she took advantage of me! She was just dying for a chance to jump my bones! GAH! Why am I even explaining myself to some snooty Jedi princess? All you need to know is that I got the job done and because of it, we're sitting where we're sitting right now. Now if you'll both excuse me, I'll be packing my gear and heading getting ready to head top side."

With that, he headed off towards his quarters. Bastila and Carth watched him go. After an awkward silence, Carth stirred his caf and said, "You know, you could give him a break, Jedi. He's been through a lot and gotten me through a lot. For not being a Jedi, he's very resourceful, loyal to a fault and would die for you no matter how crazy you're driving him."

Bastila wouldn't meet his eye. "When I had him assigned to the _Endar Spire_ , I had different expectations for a highly trained, elite Special Forces commando. I thought he'd be more disciplined, more straight laced." She offered him a smile. "I thought he would be more like you, Lieutenant."

Carth chuckled and said, "Believe me, Jedi, I wish he was sometimes. But trust me when I say that, despite his cavalier attitude towards, well, just about everything, he has the goods where it counts. He'll wade his way into a small army of enemies and he _will_ come out on top. Just..." and Carth shook his head. "Just give him a chance and give him a break."

Bastila sighed and stood. "I'll try. I just can't abide men who are so... so..."

"Then never go to Corellia, Jedi;" said Carth as he stood. "Come on. Let's get packing and see if we can possibly find you more kit than what you're wearing."


	9. Chapter 9: Back to the Upper City

Zurth was chatting with Mission Vao and Zaalbar when Bastila and Carth joined them at the exit to the Hidden Beks' base. He turned and looked coolly at the two of them. "Mission and Zaalbar want to come with us. Apparently Gadon said they should help us find a way off planet if possible."

Bastila looked like she desperately wanted to protest but instead looked at Carth. Carth, knowing that the two would be more help than hindrance said, "We'd welcome the help. Thanks you two. Do you have all your kit?"

Mission pointed at a pack on Zaalbar's back. "Big Z's got everything. Headed to the Upper City?"

"That's right;" said Zurth and Mission motioned for them to follow.

It was still quite clear that Zurth was not in the mood to talk to Bastila. In truth, she felt the same way but she also thought that if they were to work together, the air needed to be clear between them. "Specialist;" she said hesitantly.

Zurth turned his cool gray eyes on her. "Jedi?"

"I think that you and I should come to an understanding. Wouldn't you agree?"

A glint appeared in the soldier's eyes. "I would quite agree, Jedi. What do you propose?"

Bastila chewed a finely formed lower lip before saying, "I think that, first, we should start over. Thank you for the assistance with my captors. It was a relief to have someone there to assist me and your skills were both impressive and helpful."

Zurth inclined his head. "Thank you and you are most welcome. I was relieved to see that you had come to no harm."

Bastila nodded. "As am I. I think that Brejik wanted to keep me in as good condition as he could - didn't let any of his thugs touch me and didn't touch me himself."

Zurth nodded. "I'm very glad to hear that."

They were silent again before Bastila said, "I know that I cannot hold you to the same standards as I would myself. But while you and I serve together, I would greatly appreciate you not getting distracted by every- that is to say, by anything or anyone that could possibly... um... distract you."

She was blushing and Zurth appreciate her attempt at stating her request in a more respectful and less critical way. "The truth is that I'm not usually like that. Sarna was because she literally force-fed me Tarisian ale and I didn't even do anything with Danna. She passed out and I draped a blanket over her. That was it."

Bastila studied him, trying to detect excuses or deception in him. Finding none, she said, "I believe you, Specialist and I appreciate your consideration."

"Don't mention it. As of right now, my mission is getting you off planet and back to the Jedi and I'll do so how ever I have to and at any cost."

Mission had only been half listening but upon hearing that, she grinned wickedly. "You should hit up your Sith trooper girlfriend again. I bet you can convince her to help us."

Zurth considered that and noticed that Bastila was looking at him in a mixture of exasperation and indignation. "That is exactly what I'm talking about!"

Zurth his hands, quelling his laughter as he did. "Woah now, Bastila! I'm not planning a rendezvous simply to indulge. I'm just considering an option, that's all. Trust me, at the moment, seeing that Sith trooper again is not even a part of my plan."

"Good;" grumbled the young Jedi. "We don't have time for any of us to go engaging in dalliances."

That was all Zurth could take. He burst into laughter. "Engaging in dalliances?" his laughter boomed up and down the passage way.

Carth slapped his palm against his face and gritted his teeth as they kept watching while Bastila bristled. "What is so funny?"

When Zurth finally regained control of his mirth, he looked at her and said, "I am sorry, Jedi, but the way you said that was just so very... so very... I don't even know."

"It was a perfectly acceptable statement and it was absolutely true;" she said, her voice, once again, quite chilly.

"I know, I know;" said Zurth, trying to calm her down. "Like I said before, I'm not planning on finding some random women to have sex with. We're going to be far too busy for stuff like that. It's just the way you said it. I found it amusing because, well, among us soldiers, prim and proper language like that isn't common."

Bastila's cheeks were bright red and she looked away. "Oh I'm sure it isn't. I can't even imagine the vulgar terms you soldiers and marines must use."

Zurth shrugged. No use in getting upset about the truth but he couldn't help but dig back just a little. "I'm sure not, raised in your temple and whatnot."

That caused Bastila to stop outright. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Zurth regretted his words immediately. "What do you mean? I'm just saying that-"

"You're saying that because I'm a Jedi that I'm ignorant!"

"No, no, no;" said Zurth, wanting to bang his head against the wall. "I'm just saying that your life style is probably just a little more sheltered than mine. It's not an insult. It's just a fact."

"Oh I'm so sure that it is;" she said, her eyes blazing. "My lack of insight into the vulgar speech and debauchery of you soldiers must really amuse you."

Zurth looked at Carth who just glared at him and said, "You're on your own, Zeek. But I swear, I'll make sure that you're a private when we get back to the fleet if you don't fix this."

"Jedi Bastila Shan, I meant absolutely no insult. I spoke poorly and I believe that you mistook my words. Even so, I apologize."

Mission and Zaalbar were watching now with great interest as well as Zurth and Bastila gazed at one another. "I have seen my fair share of military life since this war began, Specialist. I have led soldiers just like you into battle and I know how you think;" said the young Jedi, her voice very calm and ice cold. "Do not assume my place as a Jedi leaves me naive, innocent and ignorant simply because I can communicate at higher than just a basic level."

Zurth's mouth fell open before he began to hiss angrily in Huttese, then Selkath, then Mandalorian and then finally, in basic, he said, "You may have led military men but it's pretty damn clear you don't know a thing about them and even less about me you spoiled, egotistical, self-important _child._ "

With that, he whirled away and walked on, all but stamping his boots all the way up to the turbo lift. The Sith trooper guarding the lift looked back and forth between him and the rest of the group. "Your papers check out. Your a curious bunch of mercenaries if I've ever seen one."

"Yeah well, I guess you Sith don't like risking your soldiers when we come cheaper and more expendable;" Zurth grumbled.

The Sith chuckled. "That's true. You're all clear but keep an eye on the big fellow. We don't want trouble with a Wookiee."

"You're pretty smart;" chirped Mission as she passed by.

* * *

As soon as they got back to Zurth and Carth's borrowed apartment, Zurth growled. "I'll be out and about. I need to see about getting us a ship off planet."

Before any of them had the chance to object, he stormed out, his blaster rifle on his back and a vibrosword on his hip. He wasn't sure how far he wandered or where or for how long but he was so furious that he didn't even care. When he came back to his senses, he found himself outside the cantina and decided that maybe earning some money in the pit fighter's arena wouldn't be a terrible idea. With a grim smile, he headed to where the registration was. Ajuur the Hutt didn't recognize him at first but when he did, the slug was exuberant to have Zurth back. He was thrown into the next fight against a Rodian named Twitch, apparently the current fighter champion. The stakes were high and Zurth put a large amount of money on himself. When time came, he picked up a force pike, dropped his duster and pulled off his shirt. Without putting on any sort of body armor or protection, he stepped into the ring, his force pike held loosely in his right hand. The Rodian entered across from him with an electro-pike, a weapon used by animal wranglers and the like to control wild beasts. Zurth allowed a feral grin to cross his face and waited for the gong to announce the fight's begin. Unbeknownst to him, there were quite a few familiar sets of eyes watching him.

Carth, Bastila, Mission and Zaalbar had grown tired of waiting for Zurth to return so they went looking for him. Carth had assumed he would go to the canteena but when a bare chested Zurth Barsad stepped into the dueling ring, he was shocked. They hurried to one of the viewing monitors and watched. Even through the view screen, Bastila found the sight of Zurth, wearing combat boots and a pair of cargo pants and that was it, very fascinating. Beside her, Zaalbar gave a growl and Mission replied, "I have no idea but I'm sure not complaining."

"What did Zaalbar ask?" murmured Carth.

"Why Zurth isn't wearing combat armor - or a shirt for that matter."

"It will help him move faster;" murmured Bastila automatically. "When facing an opponent who is very skilled, sometimes it is best to wear less so that you won't be so restricted."

"Whatever the reason, I wonder if I can get the security guards here to give me a couple of stills;" mused Mission.

"Wait a moment! How old are you, Mission?"

The young Twi'lek shrugged. "Fifteen. Why?"

"Aren't you a bit young to be thinking about things like..." Bastila trailed off awkwardly and Mission turned the full force of her mischievous mind on the Jedi.

"Okay, lady. We're going to teach you a new word today. Say it with me now: SEX. Go ahead. You can say it. SEX."

"Stop that;" snapped Bastila, blushing heatedly. "Honestly, a young woman your age should not be talking about such things."

"Lady, you clearly don't know a lot about Twi'lek culture. Women my age on Ryloth are either married, someone's mistress or a pleasure slave unless they are fortunate enough to be raised in a wealthy family and protected;" said Mission. "Shush! The match is about to start."

They all leaned in and watched as the gong sounded and Zurth lifted his weapon. The Rodian loped towards him and attacked with a maniacal laugh. At first, it seemed that the soldier could barely keep up with the champion pit fighter but a few minutes in, the fight changed.

Zurth was barely able to avoiding the electrical currents of his enemy's weapon. One hit, just one, would easily stun him and the match would be over. During a very short break as they circled, he took a deep breath and relaxed. Suddenly, the entire fight seemed to slow way down. His enemies movements seemed to be almost lazy and where Zurth had not seen any mistakes before, he saw quite a few now and took full advantage. The slowness around him seemed to have no effect on Zurth himself as he viciously attacked. The Rodian was quickly put on the defense, backpedaling as fast as he could while trying to keep up with Zurth's attacks. Amazed, Zurth swept out his enemy's legs with a kick and then hit him across the chest with his weapon. The Rodian jerked with a cry and lay still.

In the stands, Bastila sat with her mouth wide open. Zurth had moved faster than should have been humanly possible. A slow twisting began to fill her gut and she resolved to keep a very close eye on the Republic commando. "By the force;" muttered Carth. "I've never seem him move that fast before."

Zurth was walking out of the arena now, towards the pit fighter prep room. "Wow;" murmured Mission. "I wish the slow had been slower."

Bastila nodded but then blushed and said, "What? Get your head out of the Under City, Mission!"

The Twi'lek simply ignored her, a rather day-dreamy expression still on her face.

* * *

Zurth had collected his clothes, his weapons and his money and was quite pleased with himself. Apparently the faith in his successes of however many days ago had died out and quite a number of people had bet against him. He was now twenty-five thousand credits richer.

As he stepped out of the pit fighters area and back up into the main cantina, a cold voice said, "You, pit fighter! Don't move!"

Five Sith troopers in full armor stared at him. "We have questions for you involving stolen Imperial equipment."

Zurth knew he didn't have a chance to run and didn't want to start a fight where innocent individuals would get hurt. He was sure the Sith had no such compunctions. "Alright, that's no problem trooper. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have."

They surrounded him and slapped restraints on his wrists before escorting him out of the cantina.

Carth and the others watch in horror as Zurth was dragged away towards a collection of shops that had been shut down do to the blockade. "We have to do something;" muttered Bastila, her hand straying towards where his lightsaber was kept.

Carth hissed, "Wait, Jedi. Not here. We'll have every trooper in the area coming to check on the din, We need to follow them until their more secluded."

Bastila clearly didn't like it but she complied, showing her faith in Carth's assessment.

Zurth's mind was racing as he tried to find an opportunity to escape but none revealed themselves. After what seemed to be quite some time, one of the troopers said, "This one will do. We'll stand out here while you question the bounty hunter."

Zurth didn't complain as on of them nudged him with his blaster and said, "Inside. Now."

Without a question, he complied. The only things inside were a counter, a low table and a drink dispenser. "Turn around slowly;" commanded the soldier.

Zurth obeyed and said, "I'll answer any questions you have for me. I'm sure we can come to some understanding."

"Oh I know we can;" came the reply and the trooper pulled off his - or rather, _her_ helmet.

Zurth sighed with relief and chuckled. "You crazy, crazy woman! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

She smiled and said, "I'm sorry but after seeing you in the pit, I just had to arrange some time. You just looked so..." and she bit her lip before attacking his in a passionate kiss. Without another word, she began unbuckling her armor.

Zurth lifted his still bound hands and said, "Um..."

"I dunno;" said the trooper with a wicked grin. "I rather like them on you."

* * *

Carth and his comrades had followed until one of the Sith troopers pushed Zurth ahead into an abandoned shop while the other four waited outside. "This is perfect;" said Carth and he was about to break cover when the four troopers burst into laughter.

That confused the would-be rescuers until one of the troopers said, "Sarna's crazy! Why can't she ever pull something like that with me?"

"Because she refuses to get involved with any other Sith. I saw her shoot down Dark Jedi acolyte once and it was only the fact that the acolyte had been called away that saved her;" came the reply.

Carth sighed with relief. "Don't worry. Zeek will be just fine. We just need to wait a few minutes."

Bastila looked unconvinced. "Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure. Didn't you hear them? Sarna is the Sith trooper that's in there with him. Trust me, the last thing she wants to do is kill him."

Twenty minutes later, Carth was proved correct. Sarna came out, her helmet in one hand and a pair of binders in another. She was grinning foolishly and Zurth came out after her, his shirt, duster and weapons in a bundle under one arm as he rubbed his wrists. The other Sith were chuckling and Sarna said, "My next night off will be at the end of next week. At nineteen hundred, meet me at the cantina."

"I can hardly wait;" said Zurth. Sarna gave him one last kiss and then slipped her helmet on.

Zurth watched the troopers go before dropping his gear with a sigh and stretching his arms. "Damn, those binders chafed."

Before Carth could stop her, Bastila broke cover. "Are you enjoying yourself, Zurth?" she demanded.

Zurth whirled around and groaned. "Oh for the love of- If you haven't figured is out yet, I let the apartment to get away from you and find a way off planet. I succeeded at one and not the other now will you please just back off and give me some space?"

He threw his shirt and belt back on before his duster and trying to brush passed her, only to find that the others were behind her. "Stars above;" he cursed. "I feel like I have four baby sitters."

He brushed passed them too and headed back towards the cantina. Carth hurried up beside him. "We need to make a plan, Zeek. We can't just go wandering around and ask every passerby if they have a way off planet. Now it's getting late and we need to get some rest and a real start in the morning, alright?"

Zurth growled. "Fine. Just keep her away from me - please."

Carth rolled his eyes and said, "I swear it's like trying to get two teenagers to get along."


	10. Chapter 10: An Opportunity

_"We really shouldn't be doing this;" said Bastila quietly. "What if we get caught?"_

 _Zurth chuckled, "We won't get caught - providing you keep yourself quiet this time. Besides, the fact that we shouldn't be doing this makes it that much more thrilling."_

 _Bastila gave him a fake scowl as she removed her brown Jedi robe. "Well if_ you _weren't so_ good _at this, I would be quieter. It's all_ your _fault and_ you _know it."_

 _"Yes;" he growled playfully as he wrapped his brawny arms around her. "Yes I do." and his lips pressed to hers. She smelled so very good and felt so very good. As he kissed her, Zurth removed her belt, her tabbard and her tunic. A thin undershirt was all that remained to cover her torso. He pulled away from her lips, much to her disappointment, and knelt down to remove her boots._

 _"I can get my own boots, Zurth;" she said._

 _"Sure you can;" he said, gently pushing her back onto the bed and pulling her boots off. "But I can faster."_

 _With just a few quick moves, she was barefooted and Zurth was kissing her again as he worked on her trouser and firmly set a leg between hers, grinding one firm, muscular thigh against her entrance, only one small item of clothing preventing skin on skin contact. "Zurth!" gasped Bastila._

 _Pleasure blazed in her eyes and, with it, so did lust. "You are still over dressed, soldier. I want to see all those glistening, rippling muscles."_

 _Zurth stepped back and stripped off his shirt as she finished removing her trousers. The young Jedi gulped hard as she gazed at him. "You are gorgeous;" she said, her voice rough with desire._

 _With a rustle of clothing, they both lay on the bed, kissing and caressing one another. Bastila moaned as one of his hands slipped up her thin undershirt and kneaded one of her plump breasts. His leg was pressed between hers again and she ground against him. Needing to breathe, she pulled away and said, "If you ruin my chance to become a Jedi master, I will never forgive you."_

 _"Stay quiet and no one will ever know;" came the husky reply as he worked her shirt up her toned body and over her generous breasts._

 _"But I can't help it when you- AHHH!" She cried with pleasure and tried to suppress herself but when a large hand snaked in between her legs and began to rub, she said, "Zurth! Oh Zurth!"_

 _The soldier smiled as he nipped at one of her peaked nipples and sucked at it. "ZURTH!"_

* * *

"ZURTH!"

The soldier sat bolt upright and gasped. He looked down and groaned at his own straining arousal and then froze. "No!" he muttered, as if lecturing himself. "No, no, no!"

He began to growl at himself. "No, no, no!" as he gathered clothes and headed to the refresher. With a glare at himself in the mirror, he pointed at the reflection and said, "NO!"

When he was dressed, he went into the main room. The others were all on the cots and couches - except one. Bastila stared at him sleepily and whispered, "Zurth? What's wrong?"

He glared at her and pointed at her, just like he had at himself, "NO!" before he stormed out of the apartment, leaving a very confused Jedi.

Zurth cursed under his breath as he began to head towards one of the kiosks. He cursed himself for his wild imagination. "How in the name of the Republic did I get so desperate that I had a sex dream starring the most annoying and least available woman in the galaxy?"

Suddenly, a young Twi'lek male, probably no older than seventeen, ran up. "Your the Mysterious Stranger _and_ the winner of the season opener! This is amazing. Can I have an imprint?"

Zurth couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, sure kid. Here you go."

Excitedly, the kid handed over the datapad and Zurth gave his imprint. "Thank you so much!" gushed the child. "Oh! And I also have a message to deliver to you. Meet Canderous Ordo today at around 18:30 in the Lower City cantina. He thinks that you and he can help each other."

Zurth nodded slowly. Canderous Ordo - the name sounded familiar. Why was that? A memory of a big man, bigger than Zurth even, wearing armored boots with a heavy repeating blaster rifle with durasteel gray hair and a black, sleeveless shirt, flashed in his mind. "Mandalorian;" growled Zurth.

The young man said, "Yeah well he isn't so bad. As long as you don't get in the way of his job or bother him on a bad day, he's alright. Anyhow, I gotta go and get to work."

Zurth nodded before suddenly going, "Hey kid."

The young Twi'lek turned and nearly dropped the credit chip that Zurth tossed him. "Just in case your late."

"Oh I'm still running early, Sir."

"Just get outta here;" laughed Zurth and the kid scampered off happily. When he was alone again, Zurth sobered. For sure, Carth wasn't going to like this. Maybe talking to Mission and Zaalbar would be a good idea before he presented the idea to Carth and Bastila. Oh Bastila...

Zurth groaned. He was going to have to act as naturally as possible - not that it wasn't too late already considering how he had reacted. With a deep breath, he turned back and headed back into the apartment. Everyone was up and about. "Hey Zeek, you alright? Bastila said you ran off in a rage."

"Oh I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was sleepy and expected another fight. I'm sorry, Bastila."

The Jedi looked at him carefully. "Are you sure that's it? I'm honestly a little worried about you, Zurth?"

"Sure, sure. I'm fine. Now, what's for breakfast?"

Carth began to chuckle. "We don't know yet. We were just about to get started. I had to mediate an argument about who got to use the bathroom first and what not."

Zurth looked incredulously at Mission and Bastila. "No."

The two of them studiously ignored each other and pretended not to hear the conversation. Zurth joined Carth in laughing as they headed towards the cupboards and the refrigeration unit and pulled out what they had. Soon the apartment was being filled with the smells of eggs, sausage, hot cakes and fresh fruit. As the two soldiers threw an impressive breakfast together, they razzed Bastila and Mission good natureadly. The Jedi and street urchin forgive them instantly when two plates of food were set in front of them. "Hey Zaalbar, what do you want?"

The Wookiee growled and Zurth winced. "I can check but I don't think we have that. Um..."

Zurth bent over and looked into the refrigeration unit, clicking his tongue. "I have some nerf steaks in here. You want those?"

There was a snicker behind him and Zurth turned around, frowning at Mission, the source of the snicker. "What's so funny? Did I say something?"

"Nope, not at all. Any chance you have something besides caf to drink in there?"

Zurth raised an eyebrow. "Let me see. Yeah, we have some juma fruit juice."

There were more snickers and Carth hissed, "Mission, behave yourself."

Zurth turned around and said, "Okay, what's so funny?"

"Nothing;" said the young Twi'lek as she took another bite of food. "Just enjoying the view."

"Enjoying the-" Zurth blushed and cleared his throat. "Juice anyone?"

Zaalbar gave a gruff chuckle as Zurth threw the steaks on and set the juice on the counter. More snickers and then Mission asked, "You alright, Jedi? You're looking flushed. Do you need some water or maybe more to eat?"

Zurth glanced over his shoulder and saw a red faced Bastila glaring at Mission. "I am fine, thank you, Mission."

"Okay, to business;" said Zurth. "Mission, what can you tell me about a man named Canderous Ordo?"

Mission looked stunned all of a sudden. "Canderous Ordo? He's a big time mercenary who works for Davik Kang. No one, and I repeat, no one messes with him or Davik Kang. Rumor is that he's Mandalorian. Why are you asking about him?"

"When I went for my walk this morning, I ran into a kid who said that Ordo wanted to meet me. Apparently this mercenary thinks that we can help each other get off planet."

Silence followed. They all looked at each other, trying to gauge the over all mood or feeling of the idea. "We really don't have a lot of options;" said Mission quietly. "I can't imagine that he would make a proposition like this just to trap you. From what I know of him, that isn't his style. More likely he would rather hunt you down and take you out head on."

Carth shook his head. "I still don't like it. Maybe I'm a little biased against him but I don't trust Mandalorians. Hell Zeek, you know what they're like. Everything is about honor and battle and glory with them. What if he decides that he cares more about the reputation of killing a up and coming pit fighter or something."

Zurth considered that as he sipped black caf. After a long silence, he slowly shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I think that he is tired of working as a thug for a crime boss. There is no glory in that and I think he believes this is his chance to get out in the galaxy and search for glory."

Mission shrugged, "From what I know of him, he's doing this out of self interest more than anything. Either way, I'd trust him to make the meeting at least."

Zaalbar gave a low rumble of agreement. All eyes turned to Bastila. After shifting uncomfortably, she shrugged and said, "We don't have much of a choice. I think that Carth and Zurth should go and meet him. We'll provide back up."

Zurth looked around. It seemed like everyone was in agreement. "Alright we'll do it but we need to prepare. Carth and I will go armed with just blaster pistols and a couple well concealed weapons. Bastila, you aren't going to like this, but unless you can hide it somehow, I'd leave your lightsaber here in the apartment and bring a different, less conspicuous weapon. Mission, Zaalbar, you two should slip in an hour or so before us and just hang out like you normally would. If any of the Beks are around and approach you, tell them you're helping us out with something. Any one have any ideas or questions?"

Bastila lifted a hand. "I'm not going anywhere without my weapon."

Zurth resisted the urge to grit his teeth or roll his eyes. "Then you'd better find a creative way of hiding it unless you want to fight every gang member, mercenary and Sith Trooper in the area.. Anything else?"

"I'm going to need new clothes then;" said the Jedi again.

"Well we have all day. I'll get you some credits and we can go shopping. Anything else?"

Finally, they all shook their heads. Zurth stood and began gathering dishes. "Great! Let's get this cleaned up. I'm going to jump in the shower and we'll go from there."

Zurth placed the dishes in the washer unit and jumped into the shower. He hissed as ice cold water splashed over him. "Blasted females!" he muttered, "stole all of the warm water. Never had this problem when it was just Carth and I!"

He spluttered his way through the shower, scrubbing down and rinsing off in under two minutes. The only upside: any remaining effects from the previous night's dream were completely gone. After toweling off, he dressed in fresh clothes and threw on his duster. Outside in the main apartment room, everyone seemed ready for the day. "We're going to look around and get more information on Ordo for you;" said Mission. "We have some friends in the Bek's who are familiar with him."

Zurth nodded and turned to Carth. "What about you? What do you have on the docket today?"

"Depends; can I trust you two not to make a scene in the market district, can't I?"

"Sure;" said Zurth as he went to the weapon's locker and pulled out a heavy blaster and a vibroblade.

Bastila didn't look very convinced or very convincing but she nodded her head. Carth nodded. "Alright then I'm heading to the cantina to see if I can get word of other ways off the planet just in case this doesn't pan out."

Zurth nodded and stretched himself out. "Sounds like a plan. I'm ready to head out whenever you are, Jedi."

Bastila eyed him. "I have a name. And yes, I'm ready to go."

Zurth motioned her to lead the way and they headed out. Just before he made his exit, Zurth shot Carth an exhausted look. Carth felt for his friend. It would be a long day if the Jedi princess decided that she was going to make his life difficult - or if she simply decided that she wasn't going to give him a break.


	11. Chapter 11: Compromises

Zurth was actually quite proud of himself. Not only was he resisting the urge to snap at, argue with, or simply abandon the Jedi who was dragging him through every kiosk, store and establishment, he was even doing it with good grace. At first she had been hesitant, just wanting to buy a couple things but, when he insisted that she should get what she needed and perhaps a little extra in case of emergency. He wondered if that had been a mistake. According to Bastila, it was very difficult to find clothing that suited a Jedi. It had to be modest. It had to allow for agility. It had to be able to serve in numerous environments. It had to be sturdy and so on and on. After the umpteenth store, she had purchased a half dozen sets of undergarments, much to Zurth's chagrin, a half a dozen shirts to wear under her robes, three tunics, four pairs of trousers, an extra pair of boots, a dozen pairs of socks and three long traveler's cloaks of varying thickness. The whole trip, they had barely spoken. When Bastila spoke to him, it was to point out another store she wanted to try. Finally, he asked, "You mind if we stop for lunch? I'm getting hungry."

The Jedi checked her chrono and said, "Oh yes! It's almost thirteen hundred. Sure, let's go grab something to eat. I'm a little hungry myself."

With both of them burdened down by shopping bags, they found a tapcaf to eat in. "May I recommend a luggage carrier or two when we're done?" said Zurth dryly.

Bastila nodded and looked at the menu. Suddenly, with a sigh, she set the flimsiplast fold down and asked, "How is it that we started off so badly that you and I are constantly at one another's throats? Why do I feel like I hate you and I hardly even know you?"

Zurth studied her lovely face for a long moment before sighing. "I think it is, in large part, my fault. Our first conversation was one where we both felt that our pride was being prodded and, because of that, we started off entirely on the wrong foot. Look, Bastila, is there any way I can convince you to give me a second chance? I promise that I don't try to get under your skin and I do honestly try to choose my words carefully."

Bastila looked down at her menu for a long moment before sighing again and saying, as if the admission was an inconvenience, "I suppose that it was also my fault. As you said, our prides were hurt and that led to conflict. It also doesn't help that some of your comments about my rather sheltered upbringing were completely true. I am not used to being in a situation like this with two soldiers and a couple of swoop gang members and therefore, you manner of speaking and over all attitude is something that I am not entirely comfortable with. Yet, I cannot hold you to my standard."

Zurth nodded, smiling warmly. "I will try to choose my words more carefully, though I cannot speak for my companions. There is no accounting for Mission."

Bastila laughed at that and it was a warming sound, a beautiful sound. "I appreciate that, Soldier. Now let's order and go pick up a duffel bag. I promise that I will try to be more patient and less haughty."

They fell to chatting companionably until Bastila got a wicked grin on her face. "I just thought of a truly diabolical idea. When we get back, we should make Carth think that you and I absolutely cannot stand one another still. We'll walk in and throw stuff around and glare at each other."

Zurth liked the idea and agreed.

* * *

Carth felt his stomach twist as Zurth and Bastila all but stomped in. Bastila flung the large duffel bag onto her rack and stomped into the fresher. Zurth was cursing and muttering in several different languages under his breath. Carth went to him and said, "Talk to me, Zeek."

"You know what, Carth;" he all but snapped, "when we get a ship off-world, just leave me here and take that... that... spoiled, arrogant, self righteous..." and he broke into another stream of several different languages, "... Jedi Princess and get out of here. Leave me here and come back after you drop her off. I have had it up to my eyebrows with her attitude and this idea of superiority."

It was very difficult to keep a straight face as Carth's face paled and became more and more dismayed. When Zurth was done venting his frustration, the other soldier said, "Okay, okay, just calm down and don't do anything crazy."

"What time is it?" muttered Zurth, "you think I have to vent some stress? I think I saw Sarna and her squad hanging around the cantina during a dispute."

"NO!" Carth all but yelped, "No, no, no! Do not do that! We cannot have you getting hooked on that Sith woman! For the love of the Republic, don't do that! Look, I'll go talk to Bastila. Let me see, it's going on sixteen-thirty and you have two hours. Take some time and cool off."

"Sure, fine;" muttered Zurth and plopped down on his rack.

Just then Bastila came out of the fresher. "Carth, I need to speak to you."

"Alright, let's talk outside;" said Carth, his heart sinking.

Outside, Bastila said, "You need to do something about your soldier, Carth. He is the most disrespectful, rude, repugnant man I have ever met. I have never, ever been treated with such scorn by any other man."

Carth wanted to bang his head against the wall as she continued to wax eloquent on the most displeasing aspects of Specialist Zurth Barsad. After what must have been ten minutes, she paused, waiting for a response. "Yeah, I'll talk to him. I'm already compiling a report on his conduct. Just... please don't kill him."

Bastila was silent for a moment before saying, "I make no promises."

They headed back in and Carth saw Zurth lying on his rack and decided to end the problem right then and there. "Zurth, get your ass over here!"

Zurth sat bolt upright. "We have trouble?"

"No! This ridiculous feud of yours ends right now!"

Zurth was still for a moment before standing and striding over. Carth looked back and forth and said, "Now you two need to figure out what is going on and fix it or you are going to drive me into an early grave or worse, throw off out entire mission. I am sick and tired of your two at each others throats and making things absolutely miserable for me and the other two!" He suddenly paused and saw that the other two were having a hard time keeping their faces straight. "What are you two smirking at?" he all but bellowed.

That caused them both to burst into laughter. "It was her idea;" laughed Zurth.

Carth looked nonplussed until it dawned on him. "You two figured something out already and are just yanking my cable, aren't you?"

They both nodded, doubled over laughing. Carth let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the force. You two were beginning to drive me ballistic."

They continued laughing until Carth began to blush and said just a little grumpily. "Okay, okay, the jokes over. Everyone laugh at Carth! Can we sit down and make a plan for tonight?"

Still chuckling, Zurth and Bastila sat across from one another. "Alright, I figure Zurth and I go in since we've already been seen all over the place together. Bastila, you should come in as another patron. Sit at the bar, maybe. Make sure you're in view of us and of Mission and Zaalbar."

Zurth nodded. "We should go appropriately armed but not overly so. If Ordo thinks we're expecting more trouble than is normal, it could cause him to mistrust us - well, more than he already most likely will."

"I'll pack a blaster just as to not look out of place;" said Bastila. "and I'll probably get dressed in some swoop gang clothes of some kind, just to not stand out among the rabble."

"Good idea;" murmured Zurth. "Are you still going to carry your lightsaber?"

"I'll carry part of it. I can pull it apart enough to give me one functioning blade. It will be small enough to hide then."

Carth watched the two. They seemed almost easy with each other. "Alright;" he said, "let's get ready. You should leave early too so that you'll be there when we arrive."

They all stood and Bastila headed towards the 'fresher. Carth looked at Zurth and said, "You know what? I'm not even mad anymore. I'm just relieved that you two aren't about to kill each other. Just keep doing what you're doing."

Zurth laughed as he headed to his footlocker.

* * *

"Why did we have to have this meeting around dinner time?" grumbled Zurth as the smells of good food wafted around him. "I'm starving!"

Carth chuckled and pulled a ration bar. "Chew on this and we'll eat when we're done with the meeting. Come on. You're supposed to be the guy in charge, remember Zeek?"

"Of course I remember," snorted Zurth as he broke the bar in half and ate it in one large bite. "I'm a professional. Let's go."

They made their way through the smoke of nicotine and death sticks and the low murmur of the crowed. Down one hall was the brothel and the two soldiers could catch glimpses of the girls inside. The sight made them scowl but it wasn't what they were there for. Suddenly, Zurth nudged his friend and motioned with a jerk of his head. "There, the big guy in the corner with the really, REALLY big blaster rifle."

Slowly, they picked their way through the gloom. Zurth had been right. He was a big man. At just over two meters tall and thickly built. His muscled arms were bare and he wore a leather vest over a black shirt and khaki combat pants with armored boots. His hair was durasteel gray, as were his eyes. "Canderous Ordo?" asked Zurth.

"Have a seat. Didn't expect you to bring a friend;" said the big man in a deep, gruff voice. "Order yourselves some food and a drink and we'll get down to business. The nerf patties are good."

Zurth and Carth nodded as made their orders. The whole while, Canderous Ordo was studying them. When their food and drink arrived, the big man said, "I don't know how you two managed to keep it hidden that you're a couple of Republic soldiers but top marks. I had you made as soon as you walked in - though it was mostly due to you;" he said, pointing at Carth. He then turned to Zurth. "You seem to fit right in no matter what environment. I'm guessing your special forces of some kind."

Zurth gave a cool smile. "Mandalorians were always pretty good at studying their enemies."

"Damn right;" growled Ordo. "I'd be careful, especially walking around with him. I'm amazed the Sith haven't picked him out at least, if not you."

Carth waved it away. "I've seen a hundred mercenaries walking around who were former military. Fitting in was never a problem."

"Maybe;" growled the Mandalorian, "but you're clearly different. Anyhow, down to business. I'm getting tired of working for Davik. What's more, being stuck on this planet grinds my gears. The good news is that Davik has a ship that could outrun any of old Darth Lock-jaw's ships. On top of that, we have a way of getting clearance that will let us through the Sith blockade without any trouble. Do you know that droid shop in the upper levels?"

"Yup;" said Zurth as he poured sauce onto his nerf paddy. "there's a pretty advanced looking T3 droid I was eyeballing in there."

Ordo grinned, "Silver gray, right? Yeah, that's a droid I had special ordered for Davik Kang. It holds all the Sith clearance codes and special programming to let it in and out just about anywhere, including everywhere in the Sith base."

Carth's eyes widened, "How did you pull that off?"

"Because I'm not bound by the decadent law of the Republic or the tight regulation of the Sith;" growled Canderous, scorn obvious in his voice. "Plus Davik has deep pockets and allows me to use his resources liberally. So here's the deal. I need you to take that droid and get into the Sith base. The droid will be able to get us the clearance we need from the base's main computer."

Zurth considered as he ate his meal but Carth nearly choked on his food. "You must be joking;" he said incredulously.

After swallowing his food, Zurth said, "I see. Why do you need us to do that? I'm sure that Davik has a small army of mercenaries he could utilize to more effectively than two fugitive soldiers."

Ordo gave a chuckled. "Davik Kang and his mercs are known on sight. You two are, not only fresh faces but have the paperwork that says you are employed by the Sith. They're less likely to shoot you on sight than me and Davik's other employees. Make no mistake though, it's going to be a fight, one way or the other."

"Oh thanks;" muttered Carth. "We never would have figured that out without your heads up."

Ordo glared at him before turning his steely gray eyes on Zurth. "Your friend has a bad attitude."

Zurth shrugged. "What can I say? He doesn't trust you much."

"Well what about you?"

Zurth gave a cool smile. "I can put my prejudices aside a little more easily and I can't figure a reason you'd feed us a fairy tale. I doubt you're creative enough to come up with this so I figure that it has to be true."

Carth froze, waiting on the Mandalorian's reaction. To his surprise, the monster of a man just chuckled. "I'm no good at making up elaborate stories if that's what you mean. I'm plenty creative when it comes to killing my enemies. So, what do you say?"

Zurth took another bite of food before saying, "I say that we only have half a plan right now, Ordo. We know how we're getting the clearance but what about after that?"

Ordo seemed pleased with the question. "What you'll be doing is escorting the droid to the main computer where he will be putting in all the information on Kang's personal ship into a roster of vessels that are allowed to come and go with impunity. It will keep the automated defense systems on the capital ships in orbit from firing on it. That done, you'll make your way back out of the base. From there, you'll meet me at the Upper City Cantina and we'll all go to Davik King's manor. I'll introduce you two as prospective new employees. He'll be impressed, especially with you. You're the champion pit fighter and winner of the season opener, suggesting you're a hell of a fighter and a hell of a pilot. Couple that with your willingness to storm a Sith base, that makes you crazy and skilled enough to suit his tastes perfectly - at least in his mind. From there, we'll just need to obtain the access codes to his private hanger and then we'll all steal his ship and get off this planet. That enough of a plan for you?"

Zurth nodded. "Sounds about right. I take it that it's up to me and mine to figure the details out."

"Yup, sure is;" said the big Mandalorian as he stood to his feet. Stretching his broad shoulders. "Your meals on me, boys;" he said, dropping a couple of credit chips before picking up his huge weapon and swaggering out.

Carth looked at Zurth. "I don't like him."

Zurth laughed. "I dunno. He has an attitude problem but there's something about him I like. Don't worry about it, Carth. If we need to, we can eject him on our next stop on the way back to wherever we'll be dropping Bastila."

They finished eating and stood when a young woman, all done up it swoop gang leather, sidled up to Zurth. "Hello there;" she cooed.

Zurth looked her over and smiled. The shirt beneath her leather jacket displayed a fair amount. Her hair was in a series of braided locks and she had several tattoos. On her hips was a blaster pistol and Zurth could see the hilt of a wicked looking vibroblade in her tall leather boots. Clearing his throat, he said, "Sorry, Honey, but I'm a little pressed for time. Tell you what, why don't you write down your comm frequency and I'll get back to you as soon as I've got a little bit of free time?"

"Are you sure?" purred the girl, her eyes promising many wonderful things. "We can be quick and then, if I really like you, I can give you my freq."

That's when Zurth felt a compulsion to follow her command. It wasn't too hard to resist but, especially after a real good look, he realized that it was Bastila in her disguise. Glancing at Carth, Zurth said, "Head back to the apartment. I'll meet you there."

Carth looked at him and was about to studiously object when he saw the seriousness in his friend's eyes. This wasn't just a chance at dalliance. Carth took a close look at the swoopy, who was cocking her hip to the side and making bedroom eyes at Zurth. It took just a moment for him to recognize. Clearing his throat, he nodded, "Don't take too long, Zeek. We have a plan to make."

Zurth nodded as she took his hand and began leading him towards a dark back room. The bouncer there glared and said, "Do you have this room reserved?"

Swoopy girl Bastila waved her hand and said, "Yes we do."

"Yes you do;" muttered the big man and he stepped aside.

Bastila pulled Zurth inside and shut the door. "I hate this outfit;" she growled before turning to Zurth. "I listened in on your conversation with the Mandalorian. What the hell are you about, agreeing to work for him?"

Zurth crossed his arms. "I'm not agreeing to work _for_ him. I'm agreeing to work _with_ him. He can't help us with the base because he is a known personality associated with Davik Kang. I may be a known personality but I'm at least loosely associated with the Sith."

"Repeatedly bedding a Sith trooper hardly counts as association, Zurth;" snapped the young Jedi.

Despite himself, Zurth was trying really hard not to snap at her. "Okay well then how about contracted bounty hunters and scouts? That's how we got down to the Under City in the first place, remember? We can use that to get to the base at least. When we get back, we'll make a plan that we can work with from that point on."

"You're insane if think that you can storm an Imperial base!" she hissed, crossing her arms. The motion incidentally made her cleavage obnoxiously more prominent. Zurth turned around, suppressing a groan and saying instead, "Tell you what, Bastila, you can work on another plan and, until you think of one, we'll solidify this one to make it work."

Silence followed that and Zurth turned to look at her. Bastila stood there, her arms still crossed and her eyes not meeting his. "Well then," she finally said, "what are we going to do?"

Zurth gave a brilliant smile and said, "I have one or two ideas but I think we should discuss it with the group first."

Bastila nodded and went over to sit down. Zurth looked puzzled. "What are you doing?"

"We gave everyone out there a very specific idea;" she said rather testily. "We need to stay in here long enough to make sure that idea come across right."

Zurth frowned and then realized what she meant. Bastila sat there, blushing and not meeting his eyes and Zurth found himself uncharacteristically uncomfortable. He sat down on the other side of the room and said, "It shouldn't be too long. We can probably leave in about five minutes or so."

Suddenly, there was a scuffling noise and the sound of raised voices outside. Bastila looked panicked. "Blast! Now what?"

"Please don't kill me!" begged Zurth before crossing the room, sitting next to her and yanking her into a kiss. He wasn't a moment too late either. The door flew open and a pair of swoopies wearing the colors of some small-time, unfamiliar gang stepped in. "Hey;" they snapped, "we had this room reserved!"

"So sorry;" said Zurth, yanking Bastila to her feet. "The guy outside said we had a little longer. We'll get outta your way."

They quickly exited the room, the cantina and the area as a whole. They didn't stop their quick-march until they reached the lift and the Sith trooper there let them through. Once they were on their way up, Zurth looked at Bastila, "I am so sorry. It was all I could think to do in the fraction of a second that we had."

Bastila's eyes looked a little distant. Zurth frowned and touched her shoulder. "Hey, you alright?"

She snapped out of it and blushed deeply. "What was that?"

"I was saying sorry, you know, for the kiss."

Bastila bushed and spluttered and said, "Oh, right, yes - the kiss. Um... think - think nothing of it. It was no bother. I mean, it was quick working - thinking! Quick thinking and I won't complain. I mean, it was necessary and you probably just saved us from suspicion so no need to be sorry. Not at all."

They were both blushing and quiet now, unable to meet each other's eyes. Finally, as the lift brought them to the Upper City walkways, Zurth chuckled and said nervously, "We're gonna need to get rid of this;" and he motioned to his still red face, "or else we'll never hear the end of it."

Bastila's face reddened even more. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm only blushing because of the kiss."

Zurth cocked an eyebrow. "That's what I'm talking about. What did you think I was talking about?"

Bastila said, "What? What do you mean?"

Zurth studied her and just shook his head. "I have no idea. I am thoroughly confused now."

Bastila started muttering under her breath about something, clearly perturbed and still blushing deeply. Zurth only caught every few words, such as "stupid" and "soldier" and "kiss" and "blasted" and "unprepared."

Zurth had no idea what she was talking about so he dutifully kept his mouth shut as they headed back to the apartment.


	12. Chapter 12: An Opportunity Knocks

Picking up the droid had been no problem. Zurth and Carth had walked in, explained everything to the pretty young Twi'lek behind the counter and, after having her call Canderous on the comlink, she filled out the paperwork, accepted the payment the little droid beeped and whistled cheerfully at his new owners. "Nice to meet you T3-M4. You're coming with us now."

Zurth knelt down and removed the restraining bolt. Carth nodded and murmured, "Alright, the easy part is done. Now we need to make a plan."

"Already on it;" said Zurth, holding his comlink to her face. "Hey Mission, it's Zurth; I don't suppose you, or someone you know, could get us schematics to the Sith base, could you?"

The peppy young Twi'lek said, "Maybe I could. It was a Republic military base and there were tons of schematics copies floating around the Lower City. I'll ask around."

"You're the best, Mission! We'll see you back at the apartment."

Zurth was very pleased and checked his chrono before saying, "Alright, the best thing to do right now is by some food for a meal, head back to the apartment and wait for Mission and Zaalbar. Hey Carth, why don't you go take the droid back? I'll run and buy some food to cook up."

Carth looked hesitant. "You should take Bastila with you. She's probably getting stir crazy just sitting in the apartment."

After a pause, Zurth sighed and said, "Yeah, you're probably right."

* * *

Bastila was beginning to lose her mind with boredom and unease. At first, she had meditated. Then, she had gone through a few lightsaber drills with her double bladed weapon. After she had gone through several, she practiced telekinesis and direct manipulation of the force but pretty soon, she was huffing and pacing back and forth. "Where are they?" she grumbled. "If I have to save Carth and his ridiculous friend, that will be the absolute limit."

On second thought, however, the idea did please her. If she had to save that insufferable Zurth Barsad, she would be able to hold it over his head. Not forever of course; Bastila wasn't a complete schutta, just for a while. The young Jedi chewed her lip as her mind was drawn back to the very erotic dream she had the other night. No matter how much she had meditated and tried to banish the thought and memory from her mind. It was all because of that stupid pit fight, she had decided. The blasted soldier had gone completely bare chested and, for the life of her, she could not get the sight of his large and well defined muscles out of her minds eye.

With a suppressed snarl, Bastila tried, once again, to banish all such indecent thoughts from her mind. The man was pig headed, arrogant and irreverent but, by the Mortis gods, he was the most gorgeous human being she had ever seen. Her mouth was beginning to water and her body to react to the combination of memories. Add that to the fact that he had up and kissed her at the cantina- Bastila felt heat and desire begin to cycle its way to the core of her being. It was not a wholly unfamiliar feeling - all sentient beings, even the most disciplined Jedi, felt sexual desire. But this was much different. For one thing, it was powerful - powerful enough that she had to resist rubbing her legs together for friction. For another, there was something else beside carnal longing. There was a link that and sometimes it was as if she could guess exactly what the man was thinking. Part of the reason she got so annoyed with him was because, for all her discipline, she could not get Zurth Barsad out of her head. With a sigh, the young Jedi tried one final time to clear her mind. But it was no use. The vivid dream kept returning to the very forefront of her mind. It had felt so very real, every bit of it. She could, even now, practically feel his well formed lips on her own.

Bastila bit her lip and whimpered unconsciously. She wanted those lips again. She wanted to hold herself tightly against the hard plains of the soldier's, to feel his strained arousal pressed against her belly, to know that he _desperately_ desired _her._ With a gasp and a groan of desire, she cut off that line of thought before it became too much. "Zurth!" she whimpered but then clamped her jaw shut. There was no way she could risk screaming his name like accidentally had the other night as she jolted to wakefulness from her dream. But, oh, the way he smirked and grinned and the way he strode about ever so confidently, any private fears that he might have under complete control. His very masculinity and the uniqueness of his character were enough to call on her every instinctual feminine need and want.

Just as she was about to utter a groan of frustration again, the apartment door hissed open and in stepped the very subject of her basic need. Unable to decide how else to react, she scowled at him.

Zurth studied her and sighed, knowing that this was going to be a painful stroll. Even so, he smiled and said, "Hey Bastila; I'm going to go pick up some food. Want to come along? You look restless all cooped up in here."

Despite herself, Bastila smiled and heard her voice saying, "That would be wonderful. Let me grab a jacket and hide my lightsaber and we can go."

As she bustled over, Carth looked approvingly at Zurth. "I figured we'd grab some carry out from one of the local food speeder trucks. What do you want, Carth?"

Carth gave his friend his order before saying, "Don't forget Mission and Zaalbar. They'll be hungry too."

After getting the two young urchins' orders via comlink, Zurth and Bastila left the apartment. The cool evening air was refreshing and Bastila took a big breath before smiling up at Zurth just a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry about the dirty look I was giving you early. You just surprised me."

Zurth frowned just a little. "You weren't expecting us back?"

"I was expecting you but when you came in, I was - meditating."

Zurth didn't miss the short pause between her words but he also didn't push it. Whatever the Jedi was doing on her own time was entirely her business and not at all his. "Sorry if I disturbed you."

Bastila waved away the apologies. "No need to apologize, Zurth. So where is this food speeder truck?"

Zurth pointed down the road and to the left. "It's in a small lot but first, we have to got through a couple alleys."

Bastila suddenly looked uncertain. "Would that be wise? I mean, I'm not afraid of a fight but why go where we might get in one?"

Zurth shrugged. "I'd agree but it's really not common to be bothered up here, not even in an alley."

"Are you sure?" she asked skeptically.

Unable to help himself, Zurth said, "Hey, don't worry, Bastila. If there's any trouble, I promise that I'll protect you."

To his surprise, she bit her lower lip, trying to hide a smile and scowl. "As if I need _your_ protection, Zurth Barsad."

"Hey, it never hurts to have someone watching your back, even if you're a Jedi. Anyhow, this is the Upper City. Muggings and back alley ambushes aren't very common."

Bastila couldn't argue with that so she remained quiet as they went through the alley and found a rough circle of different speeder trucks with beings selling various kinds of foods. Zurth pointed out the cart they were looking for. Delicious smells wafted around them, making their stomachs crumble hungrily. The ordering didn't take took long and the food was quickly cooked, packaged and placed in bags for them. They were on the way back when Mission commed Zurth. "I've got news that's so good, you'll want to kiss me after you hear it;" she all but crowed jubilantly.

Zurth chuckled and said, "Sounds great. I take it you got a set of schematics or blue prints."

"Oh yeah;" said Mission. "A slicer I know managed to slice into the Sith system and had an entire security schematics layout. It's color coded and everything. He said that I could get a copy for free."

"Great!" said Zurth. "I'll see you when you get back."

Bastila gave him a strange look. "What?" he asked.

"Are you really going to kiss her?"

Zurth laughed and tapped his forehead. "If I do, it will be right there. I know how Twi'lek culture is but I'm not Twi'lek and, call me intolerant, but I am not comfortable with getting any level of intimate with a fifteen year old teenager."

"Well that's good to hear;" said Bastila before she blushed and said, "I mean, for Twi'leks, I'm sure that's fine and I'm not judging them but you are human and I don't know how right I'd feel about that - not that it's even my choice, I-"

"Bastila;" laughed Zurth, "I know what you mean."

She smiled almost shyly, still blushing and looked away. They remained in silent for the remainder of the trip. When the reached the apartment, Mission and Zaalbar were there already. The blue skinned young Twi'lek grinned and said, "I'm starving! Pass out the food and I'll show you my schematics of the Sith base."

Zurth and Bastila both chuckled as they pulled out cartons and containers of food. Mission plugged a datacard into the T3 unit and immediately, in a series of beeps and whistles, a shimmering holographic image appeared. "Behold!" said Mission smugly, spreading her arms for dramatic effect. Zurth walked up, thoroughly impressed. There were highlighted routes in case of infiltration or evacuation. It labeled areas of the base and so on. All and all, Zurth was quite impressed. "Well?" asked Mission smugly. "Do I get my kiss or what?"

Zurth smiled and stepped towards her. Mission closed her eyes and puckered her lips. "Zeek;" murmured Carth hesitantly but went silent went his friend shot him a wink. Leaning down, Zurth planted a kiss firmly on Mission's head, right between her two lekku. The young Twi'lek opened her eyes and stuck her lower lip out, pouting. "That's it? I went through all that work for a measly peck on the head?"

Zurth grabbed a couple food containers and said, "You get a delicious meal too."

Mission hmphed. "What does it take for a cute girl to get a kiss around here?"

Bastila laughed and said, "Perhaps being just a little older, Mission."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" retorted Mission with a mischievous grin.

Bastila blushed profusely. "What are you talking about?"

"You _both_ know _exactly_ what I'm talking about;" said the Twi'lek before opening her food and beginning to eat, still eyeing the Jedi and the soldier mischievously.

Neither of them would meet each other's or any of the other's eyes. When Zurth glanced at Carth and saw his superior glaring at him, he felt slightly defensive and spoke out. "She pulled me into the back room so we could discuss what I had learned. Then, someone wanted to come in and if we didn't look like we were doing _something,_ everyone around would be suspicious. Instead, I thought fast and-"

"And laid a nice, big, hot one right on her pretty, plump lips;" said Mission smugly. "I think it was brilliant, myself. You at least had my friends in the canteena pretty well fooled. You both came out flushed and breathing heavy and convinced that you were both either going at it or about to go at it like gizkas."

Zurth was almost face first into his food, eating and not looking up. Suddenly, to his surprise, Bastila said, "It was quick thinking on his part. I was almost panicked myself and had no idea what we could have done to assuage suspicion. It got us out of there quickly and unmolested."

"Did you enjoy it?" asked Mission.

"Enjoy it? Enjoy what?"

The young Twi'lek rolled her eyes. "The kiss, Bastila! Did you enjoy the kiss?"

Bastila's face looked almost sunburned as she blushed and sputtered. "I-I didn't even really think about it! Everything happened so fast!"

"OOHHH!" said Mission, shooting Zurth a playful wink, "You must have kissed her good and proper to blow her mind like that. I hear it takes a lot to stun or scramble a Jedi's mind."

Zaalbar was barking his odd Wookiee laugh and Carth wasn't looking up but was clearly holding back a smile. Zurth and Bastila refused to look at each other, thoroughly embarrassed. Clearing his throat, the former finally said, "Okay, after we're done eating, we're going to gather around and put a plan together for getting inside. It's gonna be tough and it's going to take at least a week to plan properly. I'm not just going to barge in and say, 'Hey! I need your clearance codes so that I can smuggle a Jedi out of here!'"

His serious voice did nothing to stop those around him from smirking, snorting or snickering. Carth managed to clear his throat and said, "Sounds like a plan."

They finished quickly, cleaned up their waste before T3-M4 displayed the holo-schematics of the Military base. For several long minutes, Zurth gazed at it. The Sith were good, knowing the best ways to prevent attacks and defend against them but Zurth was good too. He had done this before, albeit with a team of commandos every bit as good as he was. Looking at Mission, he asked, "Do you think you can slice their network from inside?"

Mission grinned and patted the disk shapped head of the atro droid. "I bet with this little fella, I can. What do you say, T3? Can we do it?"

The droid whistled and beeped enthusiastically. "Good;" chuckled Zurth. "Zaalbar, you can keep them safe, right?"

The Wookiee growled an affirmative. "Great; now, the hope is that you can hack right into the system from the nearest terminal but I'm going to operate under the assumption that it won't be that easy. If that is the case, a few of us are going to have to get to the base's mainframe and get the codes there. Any thoughts?"

"We need to be on the look out for Dark Jedi;" pointed out Bastila and the others nodded seriously.

Zurth cleared his throat and said, "That's true. We're going to need to get more information about this base. Any ideas?"

Immediately, both Carth and Mission looked at each other with absolutely wicked grins before facing Zurth. "What are you- NO!"

He jumped up and backpedaled. "There is no way I am going to do whatever it is what you two are thinking."

"Come on now, Zeek;" said Carth reasonably. "It's for the Republic, just like it was before. You know the perfect source of information and you can get it and have a good time doing it."

"No, it's someone else's turn;" said Zurth, shaking his head.

Mission jumped in. "Oh come on, big guy! We all know you love it. We also know that she'll be getting off this coming weekend. Now, you need to go and meet her at the canteena and show her a really good time."

"No;" groaned Zurth, burying his forehead in his hands. He didn't even want to look at Bastila. He could practically feel her eyes burning into him. Finally, she spoke herself. "Is there another way that you can think of, Zurth?"

Her voice was slow and hesitant, as if she really didn't want to know the answer.

The soldier groaned and leaned back, rubbing his eyes. "Well, we have a couple days to hopefully find one. Can't you use one of those Jedi mind tricks to get one?"

Bastila shook her head. "These Sith troopers and the like are trained to resist mind alteration, otherwise I already would have suggested it or, better yet, just told one to give us a ship and let us off planet."

Zurth groaned and leaned back. Bastila actually chuckled, "Oh come now, Corporal. For a man who is more than likely going to get laid, as they say, and still going to complete his mission, you are sure wining a lot."

"I do not whine;" the highly trained special forces commando whined. "I'm just trying as hard as I can not to get myself too wrapped up with this Sith. If she gets too attached I know, I just know, that it's going to bite me in the ass."

"Come now, Zurth;" said Bastila, trying not to laugh at his obvious discomfort. "What's the worst that can happen to you - a blaster wedding? You could get some very good benefits as a military husband."

Trying to maintain what fragment of dignity he had, Zurth stood again and turned to leave as the apartment behind him devolved into laughing humans, Twi'lek and Wookiee. Even the droid was tweetling merrily at his expense.

An hour later, when all the others had gone, Bastila sat unhappily on her cot. Why was she so miserable about all this? Zurth was just a soldier like ten thousand others. Why was she so drawn to him? Sure, the kiss _was_ pretty good. And he _did_ look spectacular without a shirt on. Those muscle were just so- Bastila shook her head violently, refusing to go down that trail of thought again. She reminded herself firmly that Barsad was going to do whatever he need for the galaxy - even if that meant selling his body to a Sith trooper for information. Even so, the idea galled her. She hated to see the poor soldier have to do so. Somehow, she felt fiercely protective over the poor man, even though he was obviously able to take care of himself. But he had assisted her in her escape and she would be damned if some Sith soldier continually used him for her own pleasure while Bastila was around.


	13. Chapter 13: Gathering Intel

Zurth stood and stretched with a yawn. It had been five days and they had gotten a goodly amount of information. He had met or had communications with Canderous Ordo several times. The Mandalorian wanted updates at least once a day and, while he was mostly patient, he urged that Zurth make his move soon. "Davik is going to start wondering about his droid. If he puts in a query as to where the T3 unit is to the droid shop, I'm going to have to find a way to explain that I have it and loaned it out to my own team to get the Sith clearance codes and what not. That won't be very good for me unless you succeed, preferably spectacularly."

But Zurth still needed some more information. They knew how the Sith worked their patrols and how they worked their guard shifts. Thanks to Mission working her way into a local restaurant as a delivery, they learned that inside the main entrance was a reception area and, right behind it, a small security room containing three or four Sith guards. They had obtained the size of the Sith garrison and the number of patrol fighters and various shuttles, freighters and gunships and the number of war droids. What they needed to know was how the guards would react to infiltration and what their reaction times and procedures and so on. That information could only be obtained one of two ways - making the attempt going in half blind and just seeing how they react or getting a Sith trooper to explain or go into it.

The others unanimously decided that Zurth needed to get in contact with his Sith fling and so, here he was at the cantina, hoping she would come around. It had been almost an hour and a half and she would have gotten off her shift a half hour ago. He dropped a credit chip on the counter and heard a silky smooth voice behind him. "What? You're leaving? But I just got here."

Zurth turned to see Sarna standing there and she looked really good. She had clearly taken time to put on make up and pick out her outfit. "Wow..." he said, making his eyes as wide as they could go. "You look..."

"Good enough to eat, I hope;" she purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck. After a long, burning kiss, she pulled away and said, "And while I'm certainly looking forward to it, I'm hungry for food at the moment. Have you eaten?"

"Nope; I thought I'd wait for you."

They grabbed a table and Sarna gazed at him in an almost worshipful manner, her eyes devouring him. "So;" she said, reaching across and casually taking his large, scarred hand, "in what have you been up to the past few days? Did you miss me?"

'Zeek' rubbed a thumb against her hand and said, "A definite yes to the second question. To the first, I've been looking for work and put in another request to get to my ship. Still no luck."

To his surprise, Sarna sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I guess you're still anxious to get off Taris then?"

Zurth looked at her. Sarna was studying his hand carefully, refusing to meet his eye. "Well perhaps but I've come to enjoy this planet. I can see myself coming back frequently and maybe, possibly even making it a home base."

"Really?" asked Sarna, sounding quite skeptical. "What does this crummy little world have going for it?"

"I dunno. There's a pretty girl I like here and seeing her would make it more than worth."

That made Sarna blush and smile. "You're just saying that because you want sex."

Zurth laughed. "Okay, let's be real about one thing - you want it at least as badly as I do."

Sarna's eyes glittered and she leaned forward, all but purring. "Oh trust me, I really, _really_ want it, quite possibly even more than you. Do you like my outfit?"

It was a very flattering outfit. The trousers were nice and tight and the shirt's neckline plunged to show her tantalizing cleavage. She wore tall leather boots that hugged her shapely calves. "Oh yeah;" said Zurth, allowing his voice to become a low, alluring rumble. "I like it very much."

A visible shiver ran through the young Sith trooper's body as she felt a large, booted foot rub against her calf. "Can we skip dinner?" she asked hoarsely.

Zurth shook his head, his eyes gleaming wickedly. "Oh no;" he said, still caressing her calf. "I'm hungry and so are you. Besides, this is payback for the binders last time."

"You loved it and you know;" countered Sarna with a smirk.

"It was different and I did;" said Zurth as he brushed his foot up her calf to her knee.

Sarna gasped. "Zeek! We're in public!"

"Come on;" he chuckled as his foot began to brush inward. "I can tell it just excites you even more, knowing that we could get caught at any second."

Sarna couldn't deny it. The waitress came over and, whether to Sarna's relief or dismay, she couldn't tell, Zeek moved his foot. They ordered and waited, at first in silence. "Well," said Sarna, "this is actually starting to feel like a date."

"Good;" said Zurth. "I was hoping it would. Why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

Sarna was slow to start but, as they waited, and then ate their food, she warmed to talking about home. Much like many Sith soldiers, she had once served the Republic but, when Revan had left and then returned from parts unknown, she and many others had decided to convert, for lack of a better term, because they thought that the Republic no longer appreciated them or understood the dangers out their. "I honestly believe that Revan took the name of Darth Revan because he thought that he would rule better, make the Republic more prepared for any other dangers. I never met him, but if I were to hazard a guess, Darth Revan was worried about threats outside the known galaxy."

Zurth nodded as if considering carefully. "Could be. I haven't served for some years now. Truth is, part of the reason I left the Republic military was because I was annoyed that all I got when I returned was a slap on the back, a 'great job' and a piece of metal that was supposed to mean something but really didn't. I dunno. I guess I just expected more."

Sarna nodded in understanding. They finished eating and ordered from the very limited dessert menu. That done, they quit the bar and headed out onto the streets. "So where to now?" asked Sarna, her eyes glinting.

"Good question;" rumbled Zurth, "Any ideas?"

With a salacious smile, Sarna took his hand and said, "Come with me, big boy. I know the perfect place."

Neither of them noticed the inconspicuous looking young woman in the garb of a local noble. As they walked away, hand and hand, Bastila Shan followed. She stayed far enough back to not be noticed which would have been difficult considering Zurth's extensive training. But the force was Bastila's ally. She followed carefully until Zurth and the Sith trooper entered a low rent but still tidy looking motel. "Of course the floozy would take him to a cheap motel;" she muttered.

Waiting a couple minutes, she entered afterward. The receptionist, a young Nautolan female looked at her curiously. Bastila waved her hand. "You will ignore my presents and forget you saw me;" she said, putting the force behind her words. The young Nautolan murmured, "I will ignore your presents and forget I saw you."

Bastila strode down the hall and cast out with the force. She hissed and grimaced as she saw hints of other minds, minds of beings who had the same idea that Zurth's Sith trooper did. When she located them, Bastila found herself tempted to use the force to stay slightly connected to their minds. Reluctantly, she pulled herself away and sat in a decorative chair in the corner, hiding herself in the force and, whenever someone went by, she used the force to redirect their interest and curiosity.

After over an hour, Zurth flopped back, gasping for breath. Sarna snuggled up to him. "Best day off ever;" she sighed, completely content.

"Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. How do you survive spending days at a time not being allowed to do what you want all the time?"

Sarna shrugged. "It's the price to serve and, hopefully, save the galaxy."

Zurth nodded, rubbing a thumb up and down her spine. "You know," he said casually, "I was actually stationed here for a year before transferring to the special forces. This one time, a street gang had somehow gotten a ton of high grade weapons and tried to storm the place."

"Really?" she said, "I never heard about that!"

"Yeah, we were told to keep it extremely quiet. It was probably pretty embarrassing for the brass since the gang members had nearly gotten to some military airspeeders and starfighters. All I know is, every ranking officer from the base commander down to my company commander were demoted and reassigned. But I'm guessing you Sith have a lot tighter security."

"Oh yes;" said Sarna, shifting just slightly so that 'Zeek's' hand was caressing her in a more preferred spot. "If that were to happen, we'd deploy, crush the attack and then go down to the Lower City in force and wipe out anyone affiliated with any swoop gangs."

"Wow..." said Zurth, "that's extreme. Let me see, the armory used to be just down the hall from the main entrance."

"Oh we moved that further back and put a small security room there."

"Really? There was one literally right behind the reception room;" commented Zurth.

"Yup;" said Sarna, "We quadrupled the security rooms and weapons lockers. We also keep half our troops constantly on alert too. If someone were to so much as sneeze too aggressively, they'd have forty Sith Troopers on them."

Zurth nodded. "Say, if I were to turn in a bounty to your base, how would I do that? There's a rumor that there are still some Rep soldiers scurrying around in the Under City."

Sarna began to gently brush her hand up and down the hard plains of Zurth's muscles as she replied, "You'd bring it to the reception desk and be taken to one of the interior security rooms where you'd sign paperwork, be paid and then be escorted out."

Zurth nodded. "Great. One more question: are there any Dark Jedi? They scare the Corellian hell out of me."

"Thank the force no;" sighed Sarna. "They give me the creeps too. No, there are no Dark Jedi on this base."

Zurth chuckled and nodded. "Gotcha."

They were silent for a bit when Sarna suddenly stiffened and looked at him, her eyes growing just slightly hard. "Why do you want to know so much about our operations?"

Zurth gave her what he hoped was a confused look. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You just seem awfully curious about them. Why is that?"

Zurth frowned but then widened his eyes. "No! No, no! You misunderstand me, Sarna. I was just curious because I used to work there and because the Sith seem a lot more strict and efficient than we were back then, that's all."

Sarna continued to stare at him so he sighed. "Looks like I ruined the mood. I'm sorry. I really was just curious about you and the Sith, that's all. I didn't realize I was treading on toes."

Slowly he sat up and began to cast around for his clothes. He didn't look at her, continue to pretend he was trying to get dressed when, suddenly, Sarna said, "Hold on now, Zeek;" and she pressed her naked body against him. "I didn't say you could go yet."

Her voice was that sultry purr and Zurth suppressed a sigh of relief. He looked at her. "I'm sorry, Sarna."

"Then make it up to me for your nosiness;" she said, lying back on the bed and pulling him with her.

* * *

Bastila was getting antsy and worried when they finally came out. Checking her chrono, she scowled. The big oaf had been in there for two and a half hours. He had better have gotten some really good intel. Finally, Zurth emerged with the Sith trooper right behind him. They were both smiling and looked as though they had both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. But Sarna was Sith. It was just as likely that he was putting on a pleasant face for her benefit. She listened as they laughed and headed towards the entrance to the motel, hand in hand. When they were out on the street, she stayed just out of sight and listened as Sarna asked, "Are you going to be coming to the parade?"

"Parade?" asked Zurth, sounding very interested. "What parade is that?"

"We're hoping to bring the moral of the place up so we're having a parade and festival because of some Tarisian holiday. It's supposed to be great fun. The majority of the garrison will be in it."

Bastila could sense Zurth's interest piqued. "Are you going to be in it?"

"Yup, though I doubt you'll recognize me, what with my armor and everything."

"Sure I will;" assured Zurth, "I'll just look for the sexiest suit of Sith Armor."

Bastila rolled her eyes. That was beyond ridiculous. To her mild surprise, the Sith giggled and said, "You are full of it. Anyhow, I should go. We're still supposed to check in, even while on leave. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Only if you want to."

Sarna giggled again. "Trust me, I'll want to. Goodnight, Zeek."

"Goodnight, my sexy, dangerous Sarna."

Again, Bastila rolled her eyes and again, Sarna giggled. There were the sounds of kissing - soft smacks, quiet moans and the like. After a minute, and the sound of someone retreating up the walk, Bastila heard Zurth utter a massive sigh of relief. Reaching out, she could feel that relief palpably radiating of him. Quickly, Bastila rounded the corner she was hiding behind and went up to him. "Are you alright, Zurth?"

Seeing her, Zurth frowned. "I'm fine, thanks. Where did you come from?"

"I've been keeping an eye on you this whole time just in case you needed back up;" she explained but then blushed. "That came out wrong. I wasn't watching. I was just sort of listening in with the force... I mean..." and she trailed off, her face so red that she looked sun burnt. With a sigh of exasperation, she put a hand to her head, massaging her temples. She stole a glance at Zurth who was quite obviously trying not to either laugh or grin or both.

"Well gee, Bastila; never took you for the voyeur type. What would the Jedi Council think?"

If it was even possible, Bastila seemed to turn even more red as she glared. "That is not what I was doing and you bloody well know it, Zurth Barsad! It was foolish of you to go and do this without back up! What would have happened if she decided you had outlived your usefulness?"

"I expect that she would use the regular pseudo-breakup lines like, 'we won't be able to do this for awhile. I'll call you later' or 'this was fun but I could get in trouble if we keep doing so we need to stop' and so on."

"Really?" snapped Bastila, crossing her arms as they walked, "so there is no chance she would kill you?"

"Oh no;" said Zurth. "She likes me way too much for that."

"Are you sure?"

Zurth's smile turned down-right smug. "Oh yeah. I'm absolutely sure."

Bastila hmphed and they continued in silence. "Get ready;" murmured Zurth casually.

Bastila glared at him. "For what?"

"As soon as we walk in the apartment, Mission is going to ask where you were and when you tell her, she will unload more jokes at your expense then an intoxicated Bothan comedian."

Bastila groaned. "You have to help me! What can I do to avoid it?"

Zurth laughed. "Oh no, sweetheart! You're on your own."

"Do not call me 'sweetheart';" she snapped, clenching her fists angrily. "Fine. I'll come up with something on my own."

"Okay;" said Zurth, his voice more than just mildly amused.

"There is no emotion, there is only peace;" Bastila muttered to herself. "There is no emotion, there is only peace."

Zurth burst into laughter and shook his head. When they entered the apartment, Mission zeroed in on them. "Hey Zurth; how'd it go?"

Zurth chuckled as he headed to the refrigeration unit. "Pretty good, Kiddo. I got a lot of good information about-"

"Yeah, yeah;" she said, waving it aside. "We'll get to that. I wanted to know about the other stuff."

Zurth did an admirable job of feigning ignorance. "What other stuff?"

"For the love of-" Mission sighed in exasperation. "The sex stuff, soldier boy, the sex stuff! I want details."

Zurth burst into laughter, blushing ever so slightly. "You can keep on wanting, Mission."

"Oh come on!" whined the Twi'lek, "it's not like it's something I haven't experienced."

That seemed to throw Zurth off, "What?"

"I'm a Twi'lek, Zurth;" she said with a shrug. "Don't worry, I usually keep it within a year or two of my age and only with species that are more sexually open like other Twi'leks, Togruta or Nautolans."

"Oh that's comforting;" growled Zurth sarcastically.

Bastila came to his rescue. "None of the rest of us really want to here the gory details of Zurth's rendezvous with the Sith Trooper, Mission."

Mission's brown eyes focused on her. "Where have you been, exactly?"

Bastila cleared her throat uncomfortably and shrugged. "I was in the background, just in case Zurth needed back up."

"Really?" said Mission, very interested in the Jedi now. "So, what, did you just hang out in the cantina or did you stay with them all evening."

"I kept my distance;" said Bastila. "Didn't really stay in sight. The force allowed me to keep tabs without being required to see anything."

"But you felt everything through the force, didn't you?" said the Twi'lek with a grin. "What was that like? Did you get to experience everything second hand through the force?"

Bastila gasped, "Of course not! That is absolutely repulsive, Mission! Zurth's sex life is none of my business. I maintained just enough contact to make sure he wasn't in danger and that's all."

"Are you sure that's the only reason you went?" asked Mission offhandedly.

Bastila's intense glare didn't effect Mission at all. "Why else could I have wanted to go? Zurth is the one who is going to get us off planet. Protecting him is a priority."

"Oh I'd believe you if Zurth wasn't a highly trained special forces bad ass and hadn't already rescued _you_ once. Are you sure you weren't a little jealous?"

Bastila's mouth fell open and even Zurth gave a startled look. The young Jedi sputtered. "Jealous? What the blazes to I have to be jealous of?"

Mission just shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe after that kiss Zurth gave you, that little taste of what he had to offer, you wanted more and had a hard time with the fact that another woman was getting it."

Zurth had buried his face in the refrigeration unit to hide his blush his laughter. Bastila stamped her foot and declared, "I am _not jealous,_ you insufferable, obnoxious child! I am a Jedi and we do not get jealous. We are trained from birth to restrain ourselves of such things and resist temptation."

"Oh please," snorted Mission, "even if you can feel this powerful, mystical force, that does not mean that your biological instincts are eradicated. You feel desire, same as every other living being."

"I do _not_ ;" said Bastila, crossing her arms and looking away.

Mission gave a wicked grin and asked, "Really? So the thought of Zurth without his shirt on, kissing your lips doesn't do a thing."

"Nope;" said Bastila.

"And if he were to drag his lips back to your ear or down your neck, the idea of that does nothing?"

Bastila swallowed, her mouth beginning to dry, and replied firmly, "not a thing."

"And if his big hands began to caress your legs or run through your hair and with his bare chest pressed against yours? You don't think that those abs and pectorals and that firm little butt of his-"

"That's it!" snapped Bastila, her face and lips red with embarrassment and no small amount of arousal, "I am leaving. Let me know when you two are ready to discuss strategy and not your sex lives!"

She stormed out. Mission turned to Zurth, "So;" she said conversationally, "about those details?"

"Where are Carth and Zaalbar?" asked Zurth.

"Fact finding mission and grocery run;" said Mission. "Details, Zurth! I want the details!"

"I'm not going to give you details, Mission;" said Zurth as he pulled a bottle of Tarisian ale out and popped the top.

"Don't be such a prudish stick in the mud, old man!" said the young Twi'lek. "I'll tell you some of mine. There was this one time, about two months ago, I met this-"

"I don't want to know!" said Zurth. "I don't want to hear and I don't want to talk about it."

"You are absolutely no fun;" pouted the Twi'lek.

* * *

An hour later, they were gathered around the holo-schematics of the base and Zurth began. "So here is the plan - in two days, there is going to be a parade along the main streetways to celebrate some local holiday or another and then a festival after that. According to Sarna, most of the garrison is going to be in the parade. If we're lucky, it's only going to be a skeleton security team left at the base. We'll use that opportunity to go right in the front door."

He paused, waiting for the objections. Carth smiled wryly and said, "Okay? Keep going, Zeek;"

Zurth nodded and said, "We'll do this by using either myself or you, Carth, as a Republic soldier we found and captured in the Under City. Hopefully, that will get us passed the reception desk. They will take us to one of the internal security areas and, from there, we'll overpower them and attempt to slice into the system. If that doesn't work, we'll shut down all security holo cams, open all security doors, shut down all coms and download the facility map to a datapad and fight our way to the primary mainframe. There, T3 and Mission will start working their magic and we'll get what we came for while and fight our way right back out. Any questions?"

"Who will the infiltration team be?" asked Bastila.

"Myself and Carth, since one of us has to be the captured Republic Soldier, Mission and T3 since they'll be doing the slicing, and Zaalbar for extra muscle."

Bastila frowned. "So everyone but me? That's a terrible idea! What if there are Dark Jedi?"

"There aren't;" said Zurth.

"How do you know that?"

"Sarna told me;" said Zurth.

Bastila's eyes narrowed. "And you're just taking her word for it? What makes you think she is so trustworthy?"

"I'm pretty good at reading people, Bastila. She gave me none of the tell-tale signs of deception."

"Perhaps;" said Bastila, trying to be carefully, "your affection for this Sith is clouding your judgement."

Zurth straightened, clearly slightly offended. "I've been doing this for a long time, Bastila. While I do kinda like this girl, I could still tell if she was lying."

"You are staking this mission on that, Zurth;" she said, shaking her head.

The others looked back and forth between the two of them as a battle of wills seemed to take place. Carth cleared his throat and said, "You know, Zeek, we might be able to use her. I mean, if we announced that the legendary and highly sought after Bastila Shan was in custody, we'd be able to draw a lot more of their security into one place and that would be extremely helpful. If we eliminate them, that's a lot fewer to deal with later."

Zurth grimaced and said, "That's a huge risk, Carth. Bastila, you are the one the Sith are after. If we die, you can find another way off planet. If you die or are captured, the Republic will be in serious trouble."

"It's worth it;" said Bastila and Carth nodded firmly.

"Alright then, we have a plan. We'll put it in motion as soon as the parade starts. Mission, you and Zaalbar will come in with T3 once we give you the signal and, by then, we should have cleared a path for you."

All of them nodded grimly and the holo shut down. They had a plan. Zurth went a commed Canderous Ordo while the others went about checking gear and weapons.


	14. Chapter 14: Foray to the Sith Base

Zurth and Carth stood slightly behind Bastila as they strode right up to the reception desk of the Imperial Base. The young Sith officer blinked at them in surprise before clearing her throat and asking, "Do you have an appointment or sommons?"

Zurth shook his head. "Nope; just one Jedi prisoner - you were looking for the Jedi Bastila Shan, right? Well this is her."

The Sith officer's eyes widened and she fumbled with a comlink. "This is Lieutenant Borton. I have a couple of bounty hunters in here with fugitive number one. Yes, sir - it's Bastila Shan."

Within minutes, four Sith troopers came from the security chamber behind the desk. Carefully, they covered Bastila Shan with their weapons. A Sith officer said, "All three of you, come with us. We'll make sure she is secured and that you are paid as soon as more security gets here."

"You're going to need a lot;" said Zurth. "There were twelve of us and she took out all but me and him."

The Sith officer nodded. When another four troopers had arrived, they were escorted through the corridor. Eight more troopers were waiting, weapons drawn. "Step back, bounty hunters;" said the officer. "we need to get her into the- wait."

He turned to them, scowling. "Where is the Jedi's lightsaber?"

"Lightsaber?" said Zurth, as if he were confused.

Immediately, half the Sith troopers turned to cover them.

"Yes," snarled the officer. "Her lightsaber. Where is it?"

"Right here;" said Bastila. Her bonds were suddenly off and her lightsaber ignited. With a single sweep, her yellow blade slashed through six of nearest troopers. The others immediately spun to shoot, only to have Zurth and Carth fire on them. The confusion gave the three infiltrators the upper hand. Within moments, all sixteen of the Sith troopers and the officer were dead.

Bastila looked at Zurth with a new respect. "I'm very impressed. You can sure handle yourself, even against a sizable group in tight quarters."

Zurth shot her a grin as he hurried to one of the security monitors. "Thanks. You're not too bad yourself. It's always a pleasure to see a Jedi Knight in action."

Bastila tried to casually hide her face and cover her blush. "Thank you."

"Of course;" he said distractedly as he began working his way through the security system. "Hey Carth, see if any of those Sith troopers have a security datacard. I think I need it to access the system."

Carth rummaged through the battle debris and came back with two. "One of these is that officers."

"Thanks, buddy."

Zurth started with the trooper card. "Pure Pazaak! Okay, I'm going to try to- blast! I'm a little rusty at slicing. We need to go get Mission. Let me see if I can do one thing though;"

Carth and Bastila watched him anxiously, not really understanding what he was doing. Several different security feeds flashed up, remained for several long moments, and disappeared.

"Zeek, what are you doing?" asked Carth as he checked his chrono. "We don't have a lot of time."

"I'm making loops in the footage and overriding all security cams and holo-cams with the loops. It will help us sneak around and get Mission and the others in here without attracting much more security. Done! Let's go."

They hurried through, weapons at the ready. When two Sith troopers came out of a side corridor, Zurth pulled a vibroblade and stabbed one in a chink in the armor, kicking the other out of the way before yanking his blade free and jamming it under the helmet of the other before they continued on. Zurth switched his blaster to stun and, as soon as the door to the reception atrium opened, he stunned the young Sith and ran to the desk. "Alright, Carth, send Mission the signal."

Zurth quickly disable the alarms around the desks and Mission stepped in with Tee-three and Zaalbar. "This way;" said Zurth, leading her to the security center.

"Alright, li'l buddy;" said Mission, patting Tee-three, "get to it. I'll assist you as you need over here."

Tee-three whistled and rolled to a socket. As he worked, he whistled and tweeted, Mission chuckled and said, "He's singing."

Zurth nodded as his foot tapped anxiously. After several long minutes, the little droid's tone changed. Mission frowned. "He can't access it from here. Apparently the base security system is completely separate from everything else. The clearance codes aren't accessible here. We'd have to go to the base's primary mainframe for it."

"Blast!" snapped Carth. "Now what?"

Zurth put his hands on his head and leaned back, taking a deep breath and letting his anxiety and frustration melt away. "Alright, we improvise. Mission, you, Big Z and Tee-three will stay right here. Every fifteen minutes or so, put up another loop on the cam feeds. That way, they won't get suspicious. Carth, Bastila - you'll come with me and we'll get to the mainframe and get the codes."

"Hold up;" said Mission. "Didn't our Mando stooge tell us we need the droid to do so?"

Zurth chewed the inside of his lip before nodding. "Yeah he did. Alright, Tee-three will come with. That leaves you to make sure the loops change every fifteen minutes. Zaalbar will stay with you."

"I don't like the idea of leaving them alone;" murmured Carth.

Zurth was about to say that they were fine but instead said, "Alright, you stay with them. Bastila, Tee-three, let's get going."

"That's not what I meant;" Carth muttered as the door slammed shut.

Using a map of the facility on his datapad, Zurth said, "Alright, good news, bad news time. Good news is that the mainframe is on this level. Bad news is that there a bit of a distance between us and it. If the Sith discover that we are here, they're most likely going to send sweeper teams and try to clear the base."

Not far down the corridor, they ran into another pair of Sith troopers. This time, Bastila yanked them forward and cut them down. "Nice;" murmured Zurth. "wish I could do that."

They shoved the two troopers into a storage locker and hurried forward again. Suddenly, Bastila stopped and said, "Wait! There's a squad coming! Quick! In here!"

She slapped a door control nearby, ushered the droid and Zurth in and stepped in herself, shutting the door. It turned out that the closet was nothing more than a custodial closet and there wasn't a lot of room. In fact, Zurth was sitting on Tee-three's head and Bastila was leaning over him, her hands against the wall. Zurth barely breathed. They heard the clatter of boots coming by. Judging by the rhythm, they weren't in a hurry, probably just patrolling.

Zurth looked up and realized that Bastila was gazing down at him. He cocked a brow and mouthed, "What?"

She chewed her lip and leaned down, whispering, "They stopped. They're just standing there. I can't stand like this."

"Why not?"

"It's not comfortable and I'll get a hamstring twinge;" she replied.

"Can't you use the force to prevent that?"

"Please;" she hissed. "I'm sitting down."

"Where?"

Bastila very carefully, turned and awkwardly sat down on his thighs. "Jedi!" growled Zurth.

" _Shush!_ " said Bastila, "you're being too loud! Don't make this more awkward than it already is, soldier. I don't like it any more than you do."

Her firm rear end was pressed firmly against Zurth's groin. Rather than disliking it, Zurth had to bring up the worst mental pictures of the worst battle fields he had ever seen to keep himself from growing aroused. His eyes were shut firmly and he ignored his other senses.

Zurth wasn't sure how long it was, probably only a few minutes, but finally, Bastila said, "Okay, they're down the corridor and around a corner. We can get out now."

She stood and stepped out. Zurth followed and realized that his efforts of remaining distracted were only partially successful and his trousers suddenly felt just a little snug. Tee-three was whistling and beeping indignantly.

"Right;" said Zurth, "let's go!"

They managed to avoid any other patrols but just as they made it to the chamber that housed the mainframe. Inside were a quartet of troopers and eight technicians. The fight kicked off immediately and ended almost as fast. Bastila covered them while Zurth blasted most of the enemy. Tee-three wheeled his way to one of the consoles and plugged in. He ignored the fight and the fight ignored him.

When the last body dropped, Zurth and Bastila hurried over to the droid. Tee-three was whistling and Zurth groaned. "Blasted son of a mother-"

"What's wrong?" asked Bastila, cutting off his cursing.

"Someone downloaded the codes and then deleted them from the archives;" growled Zurth.

Bastila flung her arms up and walked a few feet away, rubbing her temples. "Okay, now what?"

Tee-three whistled and chirped and Zurth translated. "He says that the last person to access the mainframe was the governor of this system."

"Then he's probably in his offices or suite;" said Bastila. She snatched Zurth's datapad from his belt and pulled up the facility map, ignoring his snide growl of, "sure, you can use that! No problem."

"This;" she said, indicating one of the higher parts of the base, "is the governor's suite. He'll be there and he'll have a lot of guards."

"I'm surprised he isn't at the parade;" commented Zurth, "anyhow, we're probably also going need need a rather high clearance security card."

Bastila gave an uncharacteristically savage smile and patted her lightsaber. "No we won't. Come on, let's go."

Zurth was slightly tongue tied as he followed her. This Jedi woman was going to be the death of him. That savage grin and the light in her cool gray eyes had caught him completely off guard. Stars, but she was looking more and more attractive to him every blasted day.

Shaking his head violently, Zurth firmly slammed his head back into the mission. They were moving at a good pace, heading towards one of the turbo lift clusters when they ran into four Sith troopers and a pair of assault droids. The Sith defenders had been ready for them and opened fire as soon as they had rounded a corridor. Bastila swatted the bolts out to the side as Zurth dove for cover, firing quickly and precisely at the defenders. The droids' thick armor bore his heavy blaster rifle's blasts which only left gouges and burn marks.

Bastila rushed ahead, dodging and deflecting blaster bolts, moving to destroy the droids. Zurth broke cover, expecting her to slash them apart with ease. Unfortunately, the droids were prepared for this. Twin shock fields suddenly emitted from the droids appendages and Bastila jerked and collapsed.

Seeing her fall, Zurth put on a burst of speed and yanked out a vibroblade. He was in between them and, with two quick movements, he jammed it into the circuitry beneath the droid heads, cutting them off.

The droids sparked for a moment and then collapsed. Before they had even hit the ground, Zurth was next to Bastila. She was still twitching and grimacing. "Are you alright?" he asked anxiously.

"No real damage, except to my pride. I should have thought of droid shocker arms. What a ridiculous, initiate-level mistake!"

She was blushing and looking down almost abashedly. Zurth chuckled. She was adorable when she was embarrassed.

He shoved that thought completely out of his mind. "It's alright. Even Jedi aren't completely all knowing. Can you stand?"

"Yes, I can. Let's keep going."

They made it to the lift cluster and climbed into the car. "Are you going to sit on my lap again?" muttered Zurth.

Bastila shot him an icy glare. "I said 'don't make it more awkward than it is', Zurth."

Zurth snorted and let it go.

When they reached the suite, they found two squads of Sith troopers and six war droids waiting. The lift doors opened and Zurth slammed the door close button and blaster bolts slammed in. "Blast!" he snapped.

"Any ideas?" asked Bastila as the blaster bolts continued to slam against the lift doors.

Suddenly, Tee-Three rolled to the power socket, whistling and beeping. Zurth's eyes widened. "No, no! Don't do that!"

The droid whistled a few more times. Zurth sighed. "Alright, so here's the plan: I have two ion grenades and two fragmentation grenades. All four of them are going down the hall. I need you to use your force powers to direct them. Can you do that?"

Bastila nodded and they both pressed against the interior walls of the lift. They each took two grenades and armed them, setting the timer to three seconds. The timers would start as soon as the two released them. "Give us a whistle when you're about to open, Tee-three." said Zurth.

Tee-three inserted his plug and gave a whistle. The doors hissed opened and as expected, blaster bolts began to slam into the interior walls. To help spread confusion, Tee-three sprayed a fog, probably fire suppressant and, at the same time, Zurth and Bastila knelt and tossed their grenades. Bastila located and took control of them. With two distinct pairs of explosions, the grenades went off. Immediately, they broke cover, weapons at the ready. There weren't many left standing. The droids were either disabled or scrapped and Bastila finished off any that looked like they could still function. Zurth stunned any troopers that were still alive and conscious and they headed for the door. "Okay, now what? Tee-three, do you think-"

A loud crackle of filled the air as Bastila thrust one of her brilliant yellow blades into the door. "Wow! This is some tough metal. I'm guessing it's capital armor grade durasteel."

Her voice was almost conversation as she began to make a sizable cut. Zurth growled anxiously, "Well any tiny chance that they weren't given away with the grenades is now lost."

Bastila ignored him as she made the cut. With a gentle nudge of the force, the sliced out section fell inward with a thud. Inside was a tall man in what appeared to be elaborate robes and he was leaning on a double bladed vibrosword. "What's this now?" said the man conversationally. "A Jedi and a Republic soldier? I'm guessing you're special forces. When I kill you, my master will surely accept me into the Korriban academy."

Zurth was about to lift his rifle when the Sith governor waved his hand. Tee-three suddenly shorted out and, to his supreme shock, Bastila stiffened and collapsed. Zurth felt it too, an attack that was attempting to incapacitate him. With a snarl, he drew a vibrosword from a back scabbard and attacked, breaking the force attack on him.

He had to give the man credit. This Dark Jedi wannabe was skilled with a double vibrosword and he seemed to still manage his debilitation of Bastila and Tee-three. Suddenly, the governor's eyes widened. "I can sense it now. You are strong in the force. VERY strong. You could be a Dark Jedi if you wished."

"You're insane;" snapped Zurth. "I'm no forceling, scumbag. I'm just really good at killing your kind."

He redoubled his attack. Their blades clanged and rang as he drove the man the length of the office. When it seemed that he wouldn't be able to break the governor's guard, he suddenly drew his blaster pistol and blasted the man square in the chest.

The man staggered, surprise crossing his chest before he collapsed. Zurth rifled through his robes and found a datacard. Checking it in his datapad and finding it to be what they were after, he turned to his friends, finding them still incapacitated. "Oh blast!"

He ran over and shook Bastila gently. "Come on, Jedi. Wake up."

Her eyes were fluttering and he couldn't tell what was gong on. "Come on, Bas! Don't make me slap you! I would really like to but please don't make me slap you!"

After no response, Zurth lifted a hand to give her a light swat when she muttered, "Don't even think about it."

Sighing with relief, Zurth helped her up carefully. "You're taking it hard today, Jedi. Are you out of practice?"

"That's part of it. He surprised me. I didn't expect an adept to be so powerful. He must have been practicing. Anyhow, do you have what we need?"

"Yeah but its scrambled. Here, help me with Tee-three. I'll bet he can unscramble it."

It was the work of a moment to get the droid back up and running properly. "You doing okay, Pal?" asked Zurth.

The droid gave a series of affirmative, if seemingly embarrassed, whistles and tweets. Zurth patted his disk-shaped head. "Glad to here it. Here take this and see if you can unscramble it once we get out of here."

Bastila stretched and said, "Alright, let's pick up Mission, Carth and Zaalbar and get out of here."

Zurth nodded. "Yup and then I need to get to the parade. If the Sith troopers, and specifically Sarna sees me, I can avoid suspicion."

To his mild surprise and confusion, Bastila rolled her eyes. "Yes, go celebrate with your Sith girlfriend. We'll set up the meeting with Ordo while you do."

Frowning, Zurth was about to reply but then decided that it wasn't worth the argument. "Actually, I wasn't planning on staying;" he said as casually as possible. "I was just going to say high and tell her I was having a good time or some such nonsense."

"Whatever;" muttered Bastila before seeming to simply ignore him.

Zurth shook his head, deciding that it wasn't worth the migraine to try and figure out why she was suddenly aloof.


	15. Chapter 15: Davik Kang

Zurth, Bastila noted, was particularly smug as he strode back into the apartment. "Well;" he said jovially, "that was a job well done all around, everyone. Mission, you are a magician - you too, Tee-three."

Mission smirked and gave a mock salute. Bastilla tried not to glare at him. "Did you have fun at the parade?"

"Nah, it was mostly boring;" replied Zurth, "Sarna was well convinced that I had been there the whole time. Anyhow, tomorrow morning, I'm going to organize a meeting with Ordo. Right now, I'm tired and hungry. Any food in there?"

"We're out;" muttered Carth. "We need to be careful moving around from now on, Zeek."

"Why?" asked Mission. "I wiped all the holo cam footage and cleared all logs leading up to an hour before you guys entered - including the security data card reader logs. We're all good. Try to relax, Carth."

The soldier did relax a little but he still looked slightly worried. Zurth stood and stretched. "I'm going to go pick up something to eat. Who wants what?"

They gave him a list and he headed toward the door. Bastila stood and said, "I'll come with if you don't mind the company."

"Sure. I could use the help carrying all the food anyway."

They headed out, side by side. For some time, neither of them spoke. It was a beautiful evening and the sun was just beginning to sink beyond the skyline. Suddenly, Bastila crossed in front of Zurth, faced him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm worried about you, Zurth. What are you going to do when we leave?"

The soldier frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It just seems that you really like Sarna and, as I'm certain you know, we won't be able to take her with us. Are you going to be okay with that?"

Understanding dawned on Zurth and he smiled. "I do appreciate the concern, Bas - but you have nothing to worry about. Sarna was a source of necessary equipment and information, nothing more. I'm not going to be stuck on her."

"Are you sure about that? You act different when you talk about her, you know. Look, I'm not judging you, Zurth - just worried. Can you really just leave her behind like that - no regret, no care, no feeling?"

Zurth sighed and seemed to slump just a little. "Truth is that I kinda like Sarna. She isn't cruel or cold or uncaring like we're always taught to think that Sith are. She's just a soldier who believes she's doing the right thing and we are just on the opposite side. Think about this, Bas - the Sith troopers here, for the most part at least, don't oppress anyone. In fact, during the entire time here, I've seen only one Sith do anything cruel or terrible. Now I know they're the enemy and their masters are evil and all that but that doesn't mean that each and every Sith trooper is. Sarna, well, she actually helped me get through this in a way. She gave me empathy for the enemy too and helped me see them more clearly. I'm probably going to miss her a little for a bit but, trust me, when we get off this world, both she and I will move on easily enough."

Bastila nodded slowly. "I see. Well then you have my sympathy."

Zurth smiled. "I appreciate that. Anyhow, I'm starving! Let's go get that food."

Bastila rolled her eyes trying, and failing, to hide a smile. "Soldiers!" she said, "it's as if you only think with your stomachs - or your reproductive organs."

Zurth gave a mock gasp. "Jedi Bastila! I'm shocked and appalled that you would say something so uncouth!"

Bastila gave him a playful shove and said, "You must be a bad influence on me."

Zurth laughed as they strode up to the food cart.

* * *

Canderous Ordo studied the datacard Zurth handed to him before looking up and grinning at him. "I'm impressed. You're all ready to meet Davik Kang now. So, go get whatever belongings you need and we'll meet back here. Then, I'll take you to Davik right away. He'll hear about how you got these codes and be quite impressed, I'm sure. From there, we'll just figure out how to steal his ship and leave this planet."

Zurth leaned forward. "What guarantee will you give me that you won't just leave?"

"I offer none," snorted Canderous. "Guess you'll just have to trust me, soldier boy."

Zurth glowered and stood to his feet. "I think not. The droid stays with me and it has a copy of the clearance codes too. So if you leave, that's fine. We still have a way of this planet."

Canderous stood too, his fists clenched. "That's not going to happen."

Zurth smiled coolly. "Look around, Mando. I have you outnumbered. See over there, the cute Twi'lek with the large Wookiee? Or how about over there, the young lady sitting at the bar in swoopy gear? Or how about that group of Nikto warriors over there? You really think that you can handle all of us? Me personally, I think you couldn't handle me on my own so why don't we avoid the scene and I'll just keep the droid as collateral."

Canderous glared before suddenly breaking into a grin. "I know you're tough - you showed that in the pit fights. You're resourceful too, otherwise you wouldn't have survived in the areas you've been in. Now, I see you have a good sense of negotiations. Alright, fine - you can hold onto the droid. I'll see you in a couple hours."

He stood and left. After a few minutes, Bastila walked up and sat down. "You seem to have a good sense in negotiations?" she asked, one brow up.

Zurth just shook his head. "Mandalorians;" he muttered like it was a curse.

They all gathered and hurried back to the apartment, gathering all of their gear and vacating the abandoned apartment. Canderous was waiting for them. The Mandalorian ran a critical eye over them before saying. "Right, follow me. We'll be taking an air speeder to Davik's estate."

They followed him to a large passenger speeder and piled in. Canderous himself dropped into the drivers seat. "Sure you can handle this thing without crashing it?" sneered someone in the front-most passenger seat.

Canderous just chuckled coldly. "I've dropped from orbit on the back of a Basilisk war droid, Calo. I'm fairly certain I can handle a cheap airspeeder like this."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you were a big, tough Mandalorian back in the day during the war."

Suddenly, Canderous yanked the speeder over to the side, slammed the breaks and snarled. "I _am_ a Mandalorian, you ignorant, runty son of a Kath Hound! It doesn't matter what the Republic or the Jedi Order seems to think, we still exist every bit as much as the refugees from the worlds we devastated and don't you forget it."

"And yet, here you are;" sneered the other man. "Just another mercenary wishing he could relive the glory days."

Canderous kicked the vehicle into motion again with a grunt. "Call it penance. We underestimated Revan and the Republic and now we're paying the price."

Zurth traded looks with Bastila and Carth. This was an interesting exchange to overhear. With a rustle, the man in the passenger seat turned and looked back at them. He wore a strange flight hat of some kind and a pair of goggles. After studying them, he grinned broadly. "Well, well, whoever you are, you sure know how to travel in style - and in lovely company too. Who's that pretty lady?"

Without missing a beat, Mission smiled brightly. "Names Mission Vao. Nice to finally meet you, Calo Nord. Big fan!"

Nord sneered. "I was talking to you, Twi'lek trash! I meant _her;"_ and he pointed at Bastila.

"Keep a civil tongue in your head, scum;" snapped Zurth. "and keep your ignorance to yourself."

Calo Nord gave a wolfish grin. "Oh! Protective, are we? Trust me, my friend, we have a whole lot better at Davik Kang's estate. Soon as the introductions are done, I'll take you to our massage parlor. The slaves there will take care of your every want and need. We have Twi'lek's, Togruta's, Nautolans, Devaronions - female and male as well, if you prefer."

Zurth leaned forward and growled. "I'm not your friend, Nord and, thanks, but I think I'll be okay. You can have fun with your slaves."

They were almost nose to nose as Nord growled, "You should reconsider that, bounty hunter. I'm one of Davik's right hand men. You already seem to be in Ordo's good graces. Getting in mine will double your chances of acceptance into Kang's organization."

Zurth smiled coldly. "I think I'll do fine on the merrits. But only time will tell for sure."

"Yes;" growled Calo Nord. "It will."

* * *

The remainder of the flight was spent in silence but the animosity was palpable between Canderous and Zurth and Calo Nord. They landed and unloading, hefting their bags. A large group of tough looking characters, all clustered protectively behind a medium bolt man who looked to be about fifty. His hair in front and on top was thin and almost gone and was graying on the sides and back. "Who do you have for me, Canderous - is this the Mysterious Stranger I've heard so much about? Is this the Hidden Bek's swoop racing champion? Is this our friend who brought us the Sith clearance codes?"

Zurth nodded and stepped forward. The man who had greeted him clasped his hand. "What is your name, my new friend?"

"I'm Zurth Barsad and it's a pleasure to meet such a powerful man."

Davik smiled and said, "Come in, my friend and bring your retinue with you. Canderous says that you want to work for me. I think there is room for all of you in my organization. Let's have a discussion while I give you the tour. Tell me, Zurth, what skills do you have?"

For over an hour, Zurth talked about the special skills that he and his companions had, mentioning Mission's slicing ability, Carth's piloting skills and a dozen others that seemed to thrill Davik to no end. As the crime lord showed them to a cluster of suites large enough for all of them. "This is where you'll be staying. I'd love for you all to join me for dinner and we can discuss your duties here."

Davik turned and left, most of his guards following. Canderous looked quite pleased. "I'll come and get you for dinner. We can discuss how this is going to work then."

Zurth nodded. When they were all alone, he looked at all his companions. Mission lounged on a couch and Zaalbar stood behind her. Bastila sat in an arm chair, her long legs crossed. Carth was looking through the suite, checking the bed rooms and such. Tee-three was hooked up to a wall terminal and sounded like he was singing cheerfully. "What now?" asked Bastila.

Zurth shrugged. "We wait on Canderous. Hey, is there anything in the refrigeration unit?"

Bastila rolled her eyes. "Typical; thinking with your stomach again. I suppose after you eat something, you're going to head back to the massage parlor for some attention since it's been a full three days since you last saw your Sith girlfriend, Sarna."

"Now, now;" chided Zurth as he peered into the 'fridge'. "Be nice. There is not need to get nasty. I'm just thinking that it would be a good idea to look around and get familiar with the area."

Straightening, Zurth munched piece of fruit. Bastila stood and said, "That's a good idea. I think I'll come with you."

Zurth shrugged, taking another bite of food.


	16. Chapter 16: Escape from Taris

Davik Kang's mansion was the physical representation of luxury and lavish. Zurth and Bastila walked right into a kitchen and dining area and a droid made them a couple of soft drinks and a snack just because they asked. One of the rooms they went into was a recreation center where there were fitness machines, saunas and a pool. Zurth gave a low whistle. "Wow! If we weren't trying to get off this planet, I'd say that this would be a great to live and work."

Bastila rolled her eyes. "All of this was purchased with money obtained from-"

"Yes, yes;" said Zurth, a small amount of impatience in his voice, "crimes such as slavery, drug trafficking, arms dealing and a dozen and a half other deplorable activities. You don't need to start sermonizing. I'm just saying that this place is really nice."

Bastila glared at his snide remark as they left the rec room. "Have you seen enough yet?" she asked rather huffily.

"I suppose. We've pretty well seen everything in the immediate area. Let's head back towards the suite."

Quietly, they made their way back towards the suite presented to them. Suddenly, they came to another door. "Did we check this one out yet?" asked Zurth conversationally.

Bastila shook her head slowly and slapped the door release. The site inside made her gasp and blush deeply before glaring at Zurth. The soldier looked around quite appreciatively. "So this is the massage parlor or whatever Nord called it."

In the parlor were two dozen female beings of varying species and another dozen males. Twi'leks, Togrutas, Nautolans, Devronians and even a couple Falleens were scattered around, scantily clothed and apparently eager to serve. Six of the females and two of the males had made towards them. The females were doing everything to look alluring and seductive and the males, helpful, in shape and willing to do or not do anything. "Hello;" purred a female Twi'lek with dull orange skin and sparkling green eyes. "is there anything we can do for you, master? A massage, perhaps or perhaps a hot bath? _Anything?_ We live to serve."

Before Zurth had any chance to make any reaction, Bastila cut in. "No, thank you. We're just a bit lost. Come along, Zurth."

With a surprisingly strong grip, she took Zurth's arm and they exited, the door shutting behind them. "Easy, Jedi;" growled Zurth as he yanked his arm free. "I'm not one for being yanked around against my will by anyone, not even your kind."

"Then pull your head out of the gutter and focus;" snapped Bastila, getting right up in his face. "We need to get off this planet and back to Republic space and that won't be achieved by sampling the delights of the local crime syndicate."

"Please;" snapped Zurth, not moving an centimeter. "You didn't even give me the chance to decline before you dragged me out of there. Well I'm a big boy, Jedi, and I've been doing this for quite some time. I know what our priorities and don't need some pampered Jedi princess to remind me of them, thank you."

"The Jedi do not have princesses;" snapped Bastila.

"Really? So you all have that superiority complex?" retorted Zurth as he turned away, heading back towards the suite.

"Maybe it just seems that way to those who don't have our discipline or our perspective."

The soldier laughed. "Ahh yes, your ties to the all-powerful force make you omniscient, don't they? We lowly regular beings live our lives blissfully ignorant, blind, deaf and unfeeling or how the galaxy really works and you Jedi, sitting and meditating and spending the majority of your lives locked away in your temples and enclaves, know how everything works perfectly, don't you?"

Bastila blushed and glared at him. "That's not what I meant and you know it, Zurth. I'm not claiming to know everything or that any Jedi does."

"Sure, sure;" muttered Zurth as he slapped the door control to the suite and stepped inside.

Carth took one look at them both and groaned. "What happened now?"

"Forget it;" snapped Zurth as he headed towards one of the other rooms.

Carth looked at Bastila and saw with some surprise that she looked ever so slightly guilty. "It was just a misunderstanding, Carth. I'll work it out with him later."

* * *

Zurth woke from his nap a couple hours later to the sound of tapping at the door. Immediately, he was wide awake and alert. "Who is it?" he asked.

"Bastila;" came the reply. "Ordo's here to take us to dinner."

Zurth jumped up and threw his clothes back on, replying as he did, "I'll be right out."

As soon as he was ready, he stepped out. "All set?" asked Canderous Ordo. "Good. Davik is looking forward to getting to know each of you over dinner."

The next hour and a half was spent over a sumptuous meal. Each member of the group was grilled by Davik Kang about their skills and their lives in general. For Zurth and Carth, it was easy. They simply kept up the facade as bounty hunters stuck on the planet due to the quarantine and looking for a way to make a living.

Mission and Zaalbar easily fit in as Lower City kids who had fallen in because of their skills. Bastila, in a moment of near-panic, stated that she was capture by the Black Vulkars and rescued by Zurth and that she was now his girlfriend.

Davik had loved that. "I figured as much, judging by how you reacted to finding our massage parlor a few hours ago while wandering around."

She blushed and looked down at her food, which Davik thought even funnier. "I take it that he's in the hound house now, huh? Pour guy. Anyhow, I'm glad to have such a diverse and skilled group in my employ now. You'll work directly with Canderous. He'll make sure that you get whatever you need. In the mean time, feel free to enjoy yourselves. I'll call for any of you if and when I need."

When dinner was over, Canderous gave them a second tour, including showing them the hanger door to Davik's personal ship. "Only Davik and his personal pilot have the access codes to this hanger. Inside is the _Ebon Hawk_ , a Dynamic-Class Light Freighter with weapons, armor and shields to match a gunship and a state of the art hyperdrive that will out run anything either the Republic or Sith have. That is our goal."

Zurth scratched his chin. "Lovely. Where is his pilot?"

Canderous shrugged, "That's one of the odd things. I haven't seen him in a few days. I'm going to take tomorrow to try in find him. If I can't in all his usual, and even his unusual, spots then we may be stuck until Davik finds a new personal pilot."

"Great;" said Bastila. "That's just great."

"You know, lady;" said Canderous off-handedly, "you may want to pretend you like your 'boyfriend' or else Davik might get suspicious - or worse, try to make you his personal squeeze. He has a few but he's always looking for new material to work with."

"But I'm supposed to be mad at him, remember?" she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring.

"Well don't stay mad too long or the result will be the same. Just a friendly warning from a guy with the same interest in getting out of here as you do. Don't draw Davik's attention or else things will get complicated."

Bastila _humphed_ before edging towards Zurth. "You had to open your big mouth, didn't you?" he growled, allowing her to awkwardly take his hand.

"I don't like it anymore than you do." she snapped.

"Why didn't you make up a cover story anyway?" asked Zurth.

"I didn't expect to be grilled with questions, that's all."

Zurth rolled his eyes and said, "Bas, we're in the personal stronghold of a crime lord. This particular crime lord is a member of the Exchange Crime Syndicate, which is spread all over the galaxy. He is the boss of this entire sector. He probably has more enemies than any three Republic officials or Sith Lords. Of course he is going to grill newcomers with questions."

"Well;" muttered Bastila unhappily, "what do we do now?"

"Nothing we can do but keep playing the parts."

Canderous chuckled at them, clearly enjoying their discomfort. "When you get back to your suite, Mission should probably check for bugs."

"Already did;" said the young Twi'lek just a little smugly.

"Well do it again, girly;" said Canderous, "And don't be obvious about it either. One of Davik's tricks is that he leaves a room unbugged for their first stay and then, when he knows that the room with be empty, he sets up hidden audio receivers that go to the security center. They're usually only in the main room and kitchen area though. Refreshers and bedrooms are usually left alone. If you find any, leave them be and I'll get them taken care of as soon as possible."

They got back to the suite and Zurth said, "I'm getting something to drink from the refrigeration unit. Anyone want anything?"

There was a chorus of 'no's' and Zurth grabbed a drink, watching as Mission used a special tool for detecting bugs by their tiny energy signatures and transmission frequencies. To their chagrin, she found a dozen of them throughout the kitchen, dining room and kitchen. This forced them to talk as if they were newly hired employees who were happy to be thus employed. It quickly became dull and they each found excuses to stop talking.

Zurth stood with a yawn and said, "Right, I'm turning in. Get some sleep, everyone. We're gonna need it."

He headed towards the bedroom he had chosen when Mission piped up. "Bas, you're not still mad at him, are you? You're not going to make the poor guy sleep alone, right?"

Everyone, with the exception of Zaalbar, who was too busy laughing his strange Wookiee laugh, glared at her, not that it did any good. Bastila forced some tired cheerfulness into her voice. "Of course not! I'll be in shortly, Darling."

"No rush, Sweetheart;" said Zurth, his voice easily cheerful even as he glared at Mission.

With an inaudible sigh, he went into the bedroom and plopped down on the single bed. Stars above but this was going to be awkward. Quickly, he got undressed and changed into a pair of light sleep pants before looking around. The room was nice enough but there wasn't enough room to bunk on the floor. The closet would be big enough if it didn't have racks and cabinets inside. Looking up towards the ceiling, Zurth cursed silently. Suddenly, behind him, the door hissed open and there was Bastila, looking decidedly uncomfortable. She had her bag slung across her shoulder. "I take it there's no privacy to change."

Zurth looked at her with a sheepish shrug before turning around and saying, "Just tell me when you're finished."

After just a few minutes, she said, "I'm finished. How are we doing this?"

Zurth sighed and rubbed his temples. "I dunno. We could try sneaking out but if I were a betting man, which I guess I kinda am, those audio sensors would pick up even the slightest rustle of cloth."

Bastila, now dressed in a light pair of sleep pants and a sleeveless shirt, sighed and said, "Well I guess we can just share the bed."

Zurth looked decidedly uncomfortable and, suddenly quite impatient with the whole situation, Bastila said, "We are both professional and I am a Jedi. There is no reason to be so nervous about this. Now, we need to get some rest, so lie down and sleep."

For some reason, Zurth found that rather amusing. With a small smile, he nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am."

With a tired sigh, he plopped down and closed his eyes. Bastila, more nervous than she had sounded, took the other side of the small bed. In his search for another sleeping space, Zurth had found another blanket and set it out. Gratefully, Bastila wrapped herself in it and quieted her mind, hoping that it wouldn't take them long to find Davik's pilot, get the hanger codes and get off the planet.

* * *

 **Orbit over Taris - Aboard the** _ **Leviathan**_

It had been several weeks now since they had destroyed the _Endar Spire_ and still, there was not a sight or sound of their pray. It wasn't a complete surprise, though, not to Darth Malak at any rate. He knew better than anyone the difficulty of finding a Jedi when they didn't want to be found. However, that did not mean that it wasn't frustrating. To make things worse, the planet's governor had gone silent, not returning any transmissions or messages and the Dark Lord of the Sith was getting very irritated.

A voice clearing came from behind him and Darth Malak turned around. "Make your report, Admiral."  


Admiral Saul Karath cleared his throat again and said, "According to the garrison commander, a group of swoop gang members broke into the base, took over the security center and even got into mainframe. During that raid, the governor was killed. The garrison commander is acting as governor at the moment but requests orders. In the mean time, no one has heard about or seen the Jedi Bastila Shan. The fringe elements, who have been offered substantial amounts of money, aren't coughing up any information either, my Lord."

Long silence followed and Darth Malak reached up and stroked his metal lower jaw. It was the result of a duel with his one-time master, Darth Revan. Revan had been the victor that day but now, Darth Malak ruled the Sith and Darth Revan was dead and gone. After minutes of silence, the Dark Lord said, "The search for Bastila has taken too long. We cannot risk her escaping. Destroy the entire planet."

Even Saul Karath, who had seen his share of war crimes and atrocities, was taken aback. "The entire planet? But... but my Lord, there are billions of people on Taris! We'd be slaughtering countless innocent civilians, not to mention our own men on the ground."

The Dark Lord turned to face him. "You predecessor made the mistake of questioning me, Admiral Karath. Surely you are not so foolish as to make the same mistake."

"No, of course not, Lord Malak;" the Admiral replied quickly. "I will do as you command but it will take several hours to position the fleet."

"Then I suggest you begin immediately. You are dismissed, Admiral;" said Lord Malak, his voice low and tinny behind his metal lower jaw.

* * *

 **Taris - the Manor of Davik Kang**

The whole group was eating breakfast and chatting amiably in one of the dining rooms when Canderous came in. The big mercenary dropped down to Zurth's right and said quietly, "Well I discovered why we can't find Davik's pilot. He's in the detention center. Apparently Davik is holding him there because he was trying to find a way to steal the ship the first time Davik had it loaded up for a run."

"How did Davik figure that out?" asked Mission.

"The pilot had a copy of the hanger access codes and had programmed ways around all security systems. Apparently, he had even had contact information for people who would want to buy whatever the cargo was going to be. At any rate, springing him is going to be a large group effort. The detention area is heavily guarded with war droids as well as armed guards. Besides that, if they don't enter the all-clear codes into the console every hour, alarms will go off across the entire manner and anyone at any of the other security stations will know exactly where it's coming from."

Zurth swallowed a mouth full of food and said, "Whenever you're ready, we'll head that way."

"After breakfast, go to your suite. The audio receiver bugs that were there are gone. I'll pick you up. Have your gear packed and ready."

Zurth nodded.

The day was spent packing their belongings. They were all ready when Canderous showed up. The big Mando had with him a massive repeating blaster cannon and a large duffel bag on his back. "Let's go;" he muttered. "If we run into anyone, let me do the talking."

Luckily, at least between the suite and the detention area, there was no need. "If we should run into Davik, how were you planning on explaining this?" murmured Zurth.

Canderous gave a broad grin. "I was going to tell him that I had heard a rumor that a group of scientists had gone to the Under City and developed a cure for the Rakghoul disease. If that were the case, it would be a massive money maker, wouldn't it?"

Zurth chuckled, "You're a diabolical genius, Ordo."

Canderous chuckled again.

When they reached the detention block, they found themselves facing a half a dozen well armed guards and as many war droids. "What are you doing here Canderous?" one of the guards asked, sounding both curious and bored.

"I need to talk to Davik's pilot;" said Canderous. "The boss wants that guy to be his new pilot and we need to know the entry codes to the hanger."

"Alright;" said the guard, sounding like he couldn't be any less interested.

"Wait a second!" snapped another guard. "Why didn't Davik just give you the entrance codes himself?"

Canderous shrugged, "Beats me. Want to go ask him?"

"You know what?" growled the guard. "I think I would."

He pulled his comlink and that's when the shooting started. Canderous had dropped his duffel and opened fire. Three of the guards were down before they or the droids could even respond. The others were finished by Zurth and the rest of the group. Mission ran to the console and immediately cursed. "They missed the all clear code. I'd say we have minutes before more guards show up."

"Great;" growled Canderous. "Zurth, keep an eye on the cams. I'll talk to the pilot. We'll need to move fast."

Canderous was gone for only minutes before he came back with a scrawny, pale looking man. "You can find your own way our, right?"

The man nodded and hurried away. Canderous pulled an access card from his pocket. "I traded his freedom for this. Let's go. We don't have much time."

Suddenly, the building around them shook and the sound of distant explosions were heard. Bastila turned white and staggered, gasping for breath. More rumbles were heard and with every one of them, Bastila seemed to feel it more and more."

"What in the name of Mandalore is her problem?" asked Canderous.

"She's a Jedi, Ordo;" snapped Zurth. "She feels the force and the force is tied to life and if that's what I think it is, there is a lot of life being snuffed out."

Carth looked pale and said, "Zurth, you're the better fighter. I'll hold on to her. You and Canderous just keep us moving forward."

In response to that, Zaalbar roared and pulled his weapons. With another mighty roar, he stepped into the corridor and opened up. Canderous grinned and said, "Forgot how much I liked Wookiees!"

Zurth and Mission joined them, firing on the group of thugs. The sheer volume of fire drove them back and the fugitives gave chase until Canderous said, "Woah! Come on, this way."

They followed him carefully, with Zurth staying back with Carth and Bastila, who was still breathing heavily. The explosions were all around them and it was only luck that they weren't hit by any of the blasts from orbit. "Move it! Move it!" yelled Canderous as they stacked around the door to the hanger.

He entered the code and it slid open. They hurried towards the beautiful red and gray light freighter. Suddenly, another door opened and in ran Davik Kang and Calo Nord. "Get her aboard. NOW!" snapped Zurth as he moved to intercept. Canderous was with him, his repeating blaster cannon spitting energy at Nord and Davik's feet, forcing them to stop. "Do you think I'm just going to let you steal my ship?" demanded Davik. "Sorry but that isn't going to happen."

"I'll handle these two;" growled Calo.

He gazed at Zurth but the soldier wasn't playing quick draw. With one quick motion, he lifted his already partially raised blaster and fired rapidly. Calo was faster than he looked, diving behind a pile of crates. Canderous fired almost point blank at Davik, mowing him down where he stood. "We need to get Calo or else he'll be after us;" said the Mandalorian and took a step towards the crate pile that Zurth had Calo pinned behind.

That one step was the only one he took before an explosion ripped a hole in the ceiling, raining debris down on their heads. "Get aboard;" said Zurth, still firing at the boxes, waiting for the Nord to break cover.

It was quickly rendered unnecessary however when another blaster caused debris to land on and around the boxes. A cry of surprise and pain was heard. Even so, Canderous seemed unsatisfied as they pelted up the boarding ramp and for the cockpit.

* * *

 **Orbit over Taris - Aboard the** **Leviathan  
**

Even the Sith officers and crewmen and women were seemingly horrified by the orders they were forced to obey. The Dark Lord stood on the bridge of the ship and watched. To the eyes of Admiral Karath, Darth Malak's head was back and it looked as though he was savoring something - a sensation or music perhaps.

Karath remembered the Mandalorian Wars and that the Jedi had felt and heard the deaths as millions died and Serroco and Kathar. Perhaps Darth Malak was enjoying the sensation that the Jedi cringed and shuddered at.

Clearing his throat, the Admiral said, "Taris is defenseless against our assault, my Lord. They are offering no resistance. The city is in ruins."

"Resume the bombardment, Admiral;" commanded Malak. "Wipe this pathetic planet from the face of the galaxy."

Every battery from every ship fired. Blast after blast of turbolaser disappeared into atmosphere where it would slam into the buildings of the planet wide city - the only city compared to Coruscant in the Outer Rim. And all the while, Darth Malak stood at the forward viewport, his head thrown back as if in ecstasy.

* * *

 **Aboard the _Ebon Hawk_**

"I need a course setting;" called Carth as he avoid the fire from the ships in in orbit.

Bastila, who still looked at though she wasn't doing so well, managed to say, "Set if for Dantooine. There is a Jedi Enclave there where we can seek refuge."

"I'm making the calculations for the - blast! Zeek, get to the guns! I have Sith fighters on scopes."

"You got it;" said Zurth as he ran to the turret access ramp and scuttled up to the gunner station. "Wow! This is nice!" he murmured as he powered them up.

The fighters were getting ready to swarm as he opened up on them, catching one of them as he did. "I count eight - well, seven of them. Does that thing have forward facing laser cannons?"

"Yes;" said Carth, "but I'm busy right now."

Zurth nodded as he tried to line up a shot but they were moving so fast. As they began to take another run on them, Zurth took a deep breath and cleared his mind of distractions. There was something there, a sense that was seemingly offering to help him. Zurth didn't know how but, somehow, he knew that it could help him. Reaching out, he touched it and, it felt like an old friend. Just like that, the Sith fighters seemed to slow way down. The gun turret itself seemed almost sluggish as he coolly brought it to bare and blasted one fighter after another until they were all debris floating in space. "Clear;" he called.

He made it back to the cockpit and found an odd sight. Carth and Bastila were staring at him, open mouthed. Canderous even seemed taken aback. Mission broke the silence with. "Damn, Zurth! That was amazing! Those Sith didn't stand a chance."

Zurth nodded, suddenly feeling decidedly uncomfortable. "After we get some distance between ourselves and Taris and after _you_ have had some rest," he said to Bastila, "I think we need to talk."

Bastila nodded seriously. "I think you are right, Zurth Barsad."

Carth looked between them for a moment before facing forward. "Making the jump to lightspeed. You two, go get some rest. I'll come and get one of you when I can't keep my eyes open. You know, the rest of you should probably do the same."

Zurth suddenly realized just how drained he was. It was as if he had not gotten any sleep during his stay on the planet below and it had all caught up to him. Going to one of the cabins, he kicked off his boots, killed the lighting and dropped into the inner most bunk, quite literally passing out as soon as he hit the bedding.


	17. Chapter 17: Dreams of the Force

_Bastila parried and blocked her opponent's blows, her yellow bladed lightsaber intercepting the red blade quite handily. A tight smile crossed her face and she neatly swatted the Dark Jedi's blade aside and slashed them from shoulder to hip. The robed figure crumpled and three more Jedi ran up behind Bastila just in time to see a fifth Jedi collapse before them, dead from a crushed neck. Before them stood the tall, dark armored figure of Darth Revan. The four Jedi fanned out as Bastila declared, "You cannot win, Revan."_

 _In response, Revan drew his red blade and flourished it before dropping into a combat stance, confidently prepared to engage all four Jedi. Just as they moved to engage the Dark Lord, the bridge suddenly went up in flames. Bastila shook her head violently, trying to clear ringing in her ears as she clung to the console, waiting for the atmospheric field to reactivate and keep her from being sucked into the vacuum of space. It seemed like it took far longer than it should have for a top-of-the-line warship like this Interdictor-class cruiser, but the fields activated and Bastila staggered to her feet. The other three Jedi and the bodies of the dead head been yanked into space - except the body of Darth Revan. His armor was torn in a dozen places and blood was pooling around him. Bastila stood and staggered over to him, using the force to steady her equilibrium. The body lay there, still as death and yet, somehow, it was here when the others had be sucked into space. Reaching out, Bastila felt that Darth Revan was barely clinging to life._

 _Bastila firmed her jaw and lifted her lightsaber to finish her mission - but something stopped her. The force tugged at her mind and she lowered her weapon. Thinking quickly, she put him in a healing trance and straightened levitating his body into the air before hurrying from the bridge. She was barely able to note that the fire was coming from another Sith ship. I tight, slightly sardonic smile crossed her face. The Sith always betrayed one another. Always._

* * *

Zurth woke in a cold sweat and gasping for breath. Every muscle felt like it had just been put through an intense workout and he tasted blood in his mouth. His tongue hurt too and he realized that he had probably bitten it. Scowling, he went to the fresher and spat into the basin before rinsing the blood and spittle down the drain. After taking the galaxies quickest shower and dressing in a fresh outfit, he went back to his quarters and quickly through his rack together, making the bed to military perfection. As he finished, there was a knock out the door frame of the cabin. Bastila stood there, looking serious and tired. "We need to talk."

Zurth sighed heavily. "I agree. I've been hoping you can help me out with something, actually."

Bastila frowned. "Oh? And what is that?"

"I've been having these dreams recently and in the most recent one, you co-starred with Darth Revan."

Bastila went pale and her mouth fell open. "You what? You dreamed- Tell me everything! Don't leave out a single detail!"

Zurth frowned but complied, telling her the dream from beginning to end. Bastila groaned and sat down heavily and Zurth looked concerned. "Are you alright, Bastila?"

"No, I'm not alright;" she said. "I had that dream too - just as you told it from beginning to end."

Zurth's jaw dropped and he was utterly incapable of articulating one of the many questions that buzzed through his mind. He eventually managed to croak out. "But what does that mean?"

"I can't say for sure, Zurth. One thing I do know is that you are strong in the force - _very_ strong. Coupling that with this strange shared dream, I'm beginning to get uneasy. We need to get to Dantooine and the Jedi Enclave there. I only hope the masters can help us with this and advise us on what we are to do about your force sensitivity."

Zurth agreed with a silent nod. He wasn't sure how he felt about the idea but she was right. If he could use the force, he needed to learn how best and most appropriately to use it.

* * *

Taris and Dantooine were several long days away from one another, even at lightspeed. Zurth and Bastila couldn't help but feel terribly awkward around one another, something that the rest of the ship's occupants took immediate notice of. However, Zurth was able to take the opportunity to get to know the others better. He learned that Carth wasn't a trusting individual when it came to his personal life, especially since his closest friend and mentor Saul Karath had turned on him and joined the Sith. He was only barely able to crack the soldier's shell.

By contrast, Canderous was very pleased to talk about the Mandalorian war and his disgust for the Republic. Several times, Zurth had felt a very strong urge to punch the Mando in his scarred face. He was only able to resist because, despite his lack of respect for Republic culture itself, he did have respect for those who fought on the front lines, especially those who had truly impressed him on the battle field. He proudly boasted about raining fire and death down upon both military and civilian personnel and when Zurth snidely remarked about how 'brave' it was to slaughter unarmed civilians, Canderous just shrugged. "Mandalorians don't have unarmed civilians, Zurth. We don't understand the concept."

Zurth growled. "Clearly. You know, I once heard you mention pennants to Calo Nord. If it wasn't for the senseless death, what were you talking about?"

The big Mandalorian laughed, "Oh that? I was referring to our defeat at Revan's hands, not that we nearly conquered the galaxy. It was a sour joke for his benefit! Most Mandalorians are working as mercs, scouts, hired guns and muscles these days and it's the popular joke among us that it's our pennants for losing to the Jedi. The truth is, we learned a lot from that defeat and we respect the Jedi, especially those who followed Revan."

Mission was easy to talk to as well. They played pazaak and talked about their lives and the young Twi'lek spoke of her life before and after arriving on Taris. She mentioned her brother Griff too - a con artist who had helped support her. "That is, until he found a _girl_ and baled one me."

Her disgust was obvious and she spent twenty minutes waxing eloquent about the 'scanky cantina rat' who had stolen her brother away and left her alone. When she stopped to take a breath, Zurth murmured, "Man! It's a good thing you found Zaalbar, huh?"

That tactfully brought the conversation to something far more wholesome - and entertaining. The story of how Mission saved Zaalbar from the Black Vulkars had Zurth chuckling quietly to himself.

Zaalbar was even more locked up than Carth had been, flatly stating that, while he respected Zurth and considered himself to be in Zurth's debt, he still felt no need to speak with him.

The worst was Bastila. She was cold and distant, often openly avoiding him while they traveled and it seemed that the closer they got, the worse she got. That seemed to end the night before they arrived on Dantooine

* * *

 _Darth Revan was pacing back and forth inside an ancient stone corridor as Darth Malak leaned against the wall. No, it wasn't Darth Revan yet. Somehow, Zurth knew that it wasn't Darth Revan yet as surely as he knew that the two Jedi were on Dantooine. It was strange that, even through the force vision or dream, Zurth knew that the place was strong in the force._

 _As Revan paced, his hand firmly clasped behind his back, Malak smiled coldly and said, "The dark side is strong in this place. I can feel its power."_

 _Slowly, silently, Revan considered the massive stone door. It was duracrete or durasteel, but heavily and ornately carved stone. Stretching out with his hand and with the force Revan touched the door. Malak spoke again. "Is this wise? The ancient Jedi sealed this archway. If we pass beyond this door, we can never go back. The Order will surely banish us."_

 _Revan was strangely silent, considering the door. Then the masked figure turned to his companion. With firm nods, they faced the door and Revan waved his hand. The stone grated open. Even as they entered, Malak asked, "Are the secrets of the Star Forge so valuable? Can its power truly be worth the risk?"_

 _Silently, they strode into the room and approached a strange object. It looked like an obelisk with three spurs protruding from the base. As Revan drew near, the obelisk suddenly split into three and lowered. From the center of the artifact, a sphere of dark crystal rose and hovered and a star map emitted from the object._

* * *

Zurth woke again, shivering and covered in sweat, as he always was when he woke from a force dream - or whatever the hell it was. Groaning, he staggered to his feet and ran to the fresher, splashing water on his face before running back and stripping off the pants he had been sleeping in. He wasn't even dressed before the doors to the cabin slid open and Bastila Shan strode in, looking grave before she noticed him almost naked. "Woah! BAS!" snapped Zurth, yanking a blanket from the bed and trying to cover himself.

The young Jedi blushed and looked away. "Zurth! Why didn't you warn me that you weren't decent?"

"You didn't knock!" snapped Zurth as he scrambled to grab trousers while trying to keep the blanket covering his mostly bare body.

Bastila's face was burning and she breathed heavily, her heart pounding. Stars above, why didn't she knock? Of all the ridiculous situations to be in! Thinking fast, she reached out with the force and shut the cabin door before anyone could walk by and see them alone inside with Zurth mostly naked. ""Hurry up, will you?" she snapped. "We have something important to talk about."

"I agree;" replied Zurth, "but this whole awkward situation could have been avoided had you just knocked on the door."

"Just hurry up;" said Bastila.

Zurth grumbled under his breath and finally said, "I'm at least wearing pants so we can start talking if you'd like."

Bastila sighed with relief and turned, only to make strangled sound seeing the soldier sitting there, bare chested as he wrestled on socks and boots. "I take it you had a dream about Revan and Malak in the ruins somewhere on Dantooine like I did."

"Yuh-huh;" murmured Bastila, her eyes roving over his muscular figure.

"Right, so what do you think it meant? And why the blazes am I dreaming about it? Is it happening right now or is it a scene from the past or what?"

"Uh..." Bastila swallowed and tore her eyes away before saying, "Well I doubt it's a vision of the present or the future because Darth Revan is dead. He was killed not too long ago by a Jedi strike team."

Zurth frowned, his eyes distant. "I seem to remember hearing that but there was so little detail. I've looked it up in the classified files that I have the clearance for but it never said much about it - only that you were the soul survivor of the strike force."

Bastila glanced back at him and nodded. "That's right; my battle meditation made me critical for the operation."

She chewed her lips as he stood and stretched, his muscles straining and rippling. As he searched for a shirt to wear, he said, "Well then I'm assuming its a vision from the past. Do you think it's that we're in the Dantooine system or something?"

"Who can understand fully how the force works?" she said distractedly, still staring at him.

Zurth chuckled, "Well I figured you'd have a better idea than I would. Oh well, maybe the masters on Dantooine will be able to help. Anyhow..."

As he selected a shirt and turned to face her, he frowned. "Hey, are you alright, Bastila?"

"Yeah;" she said, staring at him still for several long seconds before snapping out of it and blushing fiercely, "I mean yes, I'm fine. Anyhow, we'll be arriving within the hour."

Zurth nodded, barely managing to contain a smirk. He was highly amused at catching her staring but he wisely decided to not bring it up. "I'm ready for anything."

"You'd better be;" said Bastila before turning, slapping the door control and leaving, her face burning at the sound of Zurth's highly amused chuckle.

* * *

Dantooine was a gorgeous, a vast planet of rolling hills and rivers. There seemed to be very few forests on the planet though the odd out-cropping of trees showed here and there. Large farms and estates were quite visible but they were all dwarfed by the large Jedi facility. It wasn't very tall, or at least, didn't appear to be but it did spread across the ground, all surrounding a central building with four towers rising above it. Numerous landing pads were adjacent to the facility and, once Carth received clearance from the enclave landing control, they dropped down to one of them, gently landing with just the slightest bump.

Bastila looked out the forward viewport and sighed. "It's so good to be home. Come along, Zurth. We have to meet with the Jedi Council."

Zurth seemed to be suddenly hit with misgivings. "Oh boy;" he murmured as he followed.

As the ramp lowered, he said, "This is worse than going before a promotion board."

"Relax;" chuckled Bastila. "They're Jedi Masters. They won't kill you."

Zurth grunted as if unconvinced and she sighed, grabbing his forearm and saying, "Oh do come along! For being such a big, brave soldier when facing the Sith, you really are a nervous wreck right now."


	18. Chapter 18: A Journey Begins

**Orbit over Taris - Aboard the** _ **Leviathan**_

Darth Malak gazed with dark satisfaction on the smoking shell of Taris below. He had reveled in the feeling of mass death, enjoyed it utterly in fact and was confident that he had succeeded in stopping Bastila Shan from escaping. Granted, it would have been far better had she been captured but this was an acceptable alternative. Behind him, the Dark Lord sensed the approach of Admiral Karath and would have smiled, had he still possessed a lower jaw. Malak waited a few moments, knowing that the Admiral would dutifully wait until he was addressed before he spoke. After over a minute, he said, "What is it, Admiral?"

"My Lord, we have found a survivor and he has some unexpected but vital information."

Malak turned to face Karath, mildly surprised. Sure, he had expected that those in the lowest levels may have survived but they would now have to face the fire storms, rakghouls, toxic fumes and force only knew what else. If he had been worth of note, his information was most likely quite valuable. "I will see him, Admiral."

Admiral Karath turned towards the entrance to the bridge and motioned to two Sith Trooper Elite Commandos in golden-red armor. Again, Malak was mildly surprised. Those commandos were some of the best soldiers his empire had. Whoever this was seemed to have Admiral Karath concerned. Therefore, when the individual in question stepped onto the bridge, Malak had to smother his laughter. The man was short and thick set, wearing tattered clothes with dented and gauged body armor beneath it. He wore a strange head covering that was stained and tattered and a pair of goggles. Even so, he walked with an heir of confidence, arrogance even, not at all impressed by the sites around him. "My Lord," said Admiral Karath, "this is Calo Nord."

"Impressive. How is it that your survived my bombardment?" asked Malak casually.

"I'm am difficult to kill, Lord Malak;" came the simple reply.

Darth Malak doubted that. This little man probably only got lucky. "Admiral Karath said you might have some information for me."

"I do. Bastila Shan escaped your trap, Lord Malak. Did you notice the Corellian Engineering Corporation Dynamic-class light freighter getting past your blockade?"

A low growl was heard deep in the Dark Lord's throat. "I see. And how can you be sure that was he?"

"Because I saw her and her friends board the ship and take off."

"Interesting;" rumbled Malak, crossing his arms over his broad chest, "you must be a remarkable individual to survive a fight with a Jedi Knight and a war hero."

"I am;" replied the bounty hunter. "And I'm willing to offer my services to capture the Jedi and kill her companions."

The Dark Lord was usually not one to work with bounty hunters. He thought them a useless commodity. However, this Calo Nord was an exception. He had already survived an encounter with two Republic heroes not to mention the Sith bombardment. "I'm interesting in hearing what you have to say;" said the Dark Lord.

Calo Nord gave a cold, tight smile

* * *

 **Dantooine - the Jedi Enclave**

Zurth Barsad stood at attention before the four Jedi Masters. Two elderly human males, a red skinned Twi'lek and one very small creature. Zurth wasn't even sure of the tiny master's species but he certainly didn't look very intimidating. But beneath the service, this little being radiated calm, controlled power. Zurth could feel it. He didn't know how and couldn't describe it but even so, he could sense the well contained and disciplined power within. At first they just studied him. Finally, the Twi'lek, well built fellow, gave a polite smile and spoke. "Welcome to the Jedi Enclave, Soldier of the Republic. My name is Zhar Lestin, two my left," he indicated a man with a heavily receded hairline and a sour look on his face, "is Master Vrook Lamar and to my right is Master Dorak;" and he indicated a dark skinned, gray haired men with kindly eyes and the near sighted look of a man who read books or stared at computer monitors for long periods of times. "Lastly, this is Master Vandar Tokare, Head Master of this Enclave."

Zurth didn't really know how to respond so he stayed at attention, inclining his head respectfully. "It's an honor, Masters."

Zhar chuckled and said, "You may relax, Corporal Barsad. This is not a military proceeding. Stand at ease."

It took an effort not to snap to an at-ease position and to just relax. "It would seem that you are a very special case, Corporal. We can tell that you are strong in the force and, judging by the message Bastila sent us, you have displayed an unusual amount of latent force abilities. In fact, we are even considering for Jedi training."

Zurth's eyes widened and he said, "Woah! Woah! Wait a second. You think that I could be a Jedi?"

He could feel Bastila's glare on him and her willing him to be silent but he didn't care. That kind of commitment was a really big deal.

Suddenly, Master Vrook spoke. "Master Zhar speaks out of turn, perhaps. We would need irrefutable proof that you are strong in the force before we would even consider accepting you for training to be a Jedi."

"Proof?" said Bastila, sounding shocked. "With all due respect, Masters, you can sense his strength in the force, and I have related to you the events that took place on Taris."

Vrook looked at her disapprovingly and growled, "Perhaps it was simple luck."

None of the other Jedi seemed to take that very seriously, though they didn't snort, snicker or roll their eyes. Not even a disapproving look passed between them yet Zurth could just tell that they didn't believe their comrade's words. Zhar voices their skepticism. "Master Vrook, we both know that there is no luck. We can all feel the vast power within Bastila's companion, though it is wild and untamed. Now that it has begun to manifest itself, can we really safely ignore it?"

Even so, Vrook did not look convinced. "Jedi training is long and difficult, even when working with a young and opened mind. Teaching a child is hard but how much harder would it be to train an adult in the ways of a Jedi?"

"Hold on;" said Zurth again. "Don't I get any say in this? The life of a Jedi is a massive commitment that I at least want to think about before we even have the discussion of whether I can be. The sacrifices that Jedi make are huge - no attachment, no ownership, no independence. I don't know if I even can give that up."

Vrook gave a mildly vindicated look. "See? Even the Corporal Barsad has doubt as to whether he can."

"Wait one sec;" said Zurth again, drawing even more intense glares from Bastila. "I'm not doubting whether I can. I'm doubting whether I'm willing to. You know what, you guys can keep discussing whether I should be accepted. If I may, I need to go and think really hard about whether I really want to."

There was a long silence before Vandar spoke for the first time. "I think that would be wise, Corporal. Go for a walk, clear your mind and meditate on what you think you should do. We will finish this conversation when you return."

Zurth bowed slightly, didn't a picture perfect about face and marched out of the room. When he had left, Bastila turned to the masters, a look of intense worry on her face. "Masters, with all due respect, we cannot afford to let him run wild. What if his-"

"We understand the brevity of the situation, young Bastila;" assured Vandar as he went over to her. "Unfortunately, the Corporal is correct. For the best case scenario, it must be a decision that he makes of his own volition. It would be a mistake to force him."

Vrook raised one bushy eyebrow. "Would it be considering everything that has already happened to him?"

The diminutive master gave a rather unhappy look to his companion. "Everything that happened is the reason that it would be a mistake, Vrook. Search your feelings. You know that what I say is true."

The other three Jedi Masters slowly nodded in agreement. "Then for the moment, this is on him;" said Dorak.

Bastila still didn't look happy. "With your permission masters, I would like to go speak with him."

"Take care, young one;" said Vandar. "If you push too hard, you may only succeed in pushing him away from the path of a Jedi or worse, you may cause him to agree and sow resentment into him. If he feels he was forced or even coerced into this, it could wind up being worse int he end."

Bastila hesitated before bowing. "I understand, Masters."

"Then go and tread with care;" said Vandar.

* * *

Zurth had immediately headed out of the main entrance and out into the fields of Dantooine. He knew a little about the planet. It was a planet of rolling hills, grasslands and the odd gorge or canyon. If one were to wander to far from the settlements or small towns, they would be in danger of running into Kath Hounds. Going to a small stone bridge that crossed a stream, he leaned against the side rails and looked into the clear, babbling water and sighed heavily. What was he supposed to do? What did he _want_ to do? The life of a Jedi Knight was a higher calling. He had always respected the Jedi. They found purpose in great sacrifice and, as a soldier, he truly respected that especially. However, the level of sacrifice was staggering. To swear off love and family and possession and, essentially, freedom of one's choice were not things to be taken lightly and without a lot of serious thought. "How in the universe am I supposed to make the right decision here?" he muttered to himself.

"Most don't even get to decide. The majority of Jedi are raised from infancy after their parents give them up to the Order;" said a familiar voice from beside and slightly behind him.

Zurth turned and saw Bastila. She gave him a sympathetic smile and came up beside him, leaning against the railing. After a companionable silence, Zurth grunted and said, "I take it you're here to try and sell this idea of becoming a Jedi?"

"Originally, I was but as I came to find you, I think the force gave me a gentle nudge to tell me to hold off and see what you were thinking;" she replied conversationally.

Zurth chuckled. "Well that's not very helpful."

"This decision has to be made by you and you alone, Zurth Barsad. If I were to pressure you too much, it would only make things worse in the future."

Zurth nodded slightly before sighing and hanging his head. "I'm a soldier of the Republic, willing to sacrifice my body, my time, even my life to protect the people and principles of the Republic. But somehow this decision seems so extreme."

"And why is that?"

"To swear off attachment, emotions and ownership - to completely refute personal independence."

Bastila gave him a slightly startled look. "Zurth, we aren't slaves or drones of the Jedi Order. We simply commit ourselves to an ideal. It isn't for everybody."

"But how do I know if I am called to it?"

Bastila was silent for a long moment and Zurth looked at her. A strand of hair had worked itself loose and was blowing across her facing. He suddenly had the urge to brush it out of her face. Finally, she said, "You are one who wishes to protect and serve, willing to do whatever it takes to see the Republic stand strong. I firmly believe that for you to do so to the best of your ability, you should make one final, very serious commitment. But as I said, this is your choice, Zurth."

The soldier nodded slowly. Minutes passed and Bastila looked at his face. His eyes were closed and Bastila could tell that he was attempting to get guidance from the force. She could sense his untrained mind groping for it and closed her eyes as well. _Let me show you something._

Zurth flinched as her mind gently took hold of his and showed him how she saw the planet around. She showed him how the galaxy around them looked to her eyes and the soldier was amazed at what he saw. Everything was tied together. Everything effected everything else. All of that, she showed him simply by allowing him to see the planet Dantooine through her mind's eye. Slowly, she withdrew from his mind and opened her eyes. Zurth's eyes opened and she gazed at her. "Wow!" he murmured.

Bastila needed. "You can learn to see the galaxy with even greater clarity than that, to see it through your own mind's eye. But the only way to do so is through training. I will return to the council's chamber. Join us when you are ready."

Bastila turned and started heading back to the Enclave. Zurth chuckled and said, "Hold on. I'm coming with you."

* * *

The master's gazed at Zurth as he said, "I would be honored to train as a Jedi, Masters."

Master Dorak nodded in approval. "Traditionally, the Jedi do not accept adults for training though there are rare exception in our Order. But you are a special case."

The diminutive Master Vandar nodded. "I agree with Master Dorak. Many of our students have left the order to follow the Sith teachings and we need recruits to stand against Darth Malak. With Revan dead-"

"But are you so sure that Revan _is_ truly dead. What if we should undertake to train this one and the Dark Lord should return?"

A long and awkward silence followed before Vandar turned to Bastila and Zurth. "We should discuss this more fully in private. Bastila, you and your companion must go. This is a matter for the Council to discuss."

"As you wish, Master Vandar;" said Bastila. "We shall return to the _Ebon Hawk_ and leave you to your deliberations."

She and Zurth both bowed and retreated. "They will most likely contact the Council on Coruscant as well;" murmured Bastila

"What will they do if they decide not to train me? They already said that I'm too dangerous to be allowed to go free."

After a long pause, the young Jedi replied, "I don't know."

The day turned into a long and restless night. Bastila went to the quarters given to her and Zurth stayed on the _Ebon Hawk._ His friends on board were curious, asking him about everything. He explained what he could and Mission and Zaalbar were fine with accepting it. Canderous didn't really seem to care. He was just mildly uncomfortable being at a Jedi facility and spent most of his days aboard the ship. Carth was thoroughly unhappy. "I don't like being left out of the loop like this;" he muttered.

Zurth shrugged unhappily. "We'll just have to trust the force and the Council's wisdom."

"You already sound like one of them;" groused Carth.

It was late the following morning that Zurth was retrieved. When he arrived before the masters, he found that Bastila was there as well. Master Vandar looked both troubled and intrigued. "Bastila has told of us an interesting development - something she had failed to mention before."

Zurth nodded slowly, waiting for him to elaborate. "She told us of the dreams you shared on your way to Dantooine - a vision of Malak and Revan in the catacombs beneath the ancient ruins."

Master Dorak nodded. "These ruins have long been known to us, but we believed them to be merely merely burial mounds. Perhaps they were more than we though if Revan and Malak found something there."

Zurth looked highly uncomfortable as he hesitantly replied, "They certainly seemed to be looking for something, Master."

"After Bastila described the shared dream, the council has come to the conclusion that it isn't merely a dream but a vision and that the force is working through you as is acts through Bastila."

Zhar nodded seriously. "You and Bastila share a powerful connection to the force and to each other. This is not unheard of. A bond often forms between master and student. But rarely does one form so quickly."

"Nor between two relative strangers;" said Vrook.

Vandar nodded. "Whatever dangers lie ahead, we cannot deny the destiny that brought you and Bastila here to us. Together."

Zurth and Bastila looked at one another and Zurth asked carefully, "So Bastila and I are connected?"

"You and she are linked, as is your fate to hers. Together, you two may be able to stop Darth Malak and the Sith;" affirmed Vandar.

Vrook lifted and hand and said rather sternly, "But do not let your head be filled with visions of glory and power. That path leads to the dark side. The path of the light is long and difficult. Are you ready for such hardship?"

One last time, Zurth looked to Bastila. She gave a tiny smile and nodded infinitesimally to him. With a confident smile, Zurth turned back to the Masters. "I am ready for anything ahead."

The masters looked at one another, each nodding to the others. Zhar strode forward. "Then your journey begins here, Jedi. From this path, many have turned away and joined the quicker, easier path to the dark side. Take care that you do not do the same."

* * *

 **And with that, the first part of this story ends. Zurth Barsad and Bastila Shan will return in the future. I hope you enjoyed.**


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